From Sports Business Daily:
NFL To Launch “Cleaner” Shield Logo At Next Year’s Draft
The NFL is “launching a makeover of its red, white and blue ‘NFL Shield’ logo,” by creating a “leaner, meaner version” that will debut at the Draft next April, according to Michael McCarthy of USA TODAY. NFL Senior VP/Consumer Products & Marketing Lisa Baird indicated that the revamped shield will be “slightly taller and thinner, with a new football, fewer stars and darker colors.” McCarthy notes the redesign “marks the first changes to the shield” since ‘80. The new shield features eight stars, representing the eight AFC and NFC divisions, instead of 25 stars on the current logo. Baird added that the football at the center has been “redesigned to resemble the ball atop the Vince Lombardi championship trophy.” Baird believes the “cleaner, more modern symbol will ‘pop’ better” during telecasts and will “show up better on ‘third screens’ increasingly used by sports fans,” such as cellphones, laptops, iPods and PDAs.
I like tradition, particularly when it works as the NFL shield has over the years. The changes here though are subtle but have a nice impact. Other thoughts?
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I’m not the most loyal of football fans, but I think the new logo is an improvement. Subtle changes definitely go a long way. The more-realistic perspective of the football is esp. nice.
I like it. It’s sharp, clean, and even elegant (if I can use that word in reference to something football-related). It’s also more expressive of both the NFL’s structure and its key emblem.
Not to make more of this than it is, but I am a little sad, since this means one more traditional emblem has fallen prey to “progress.” Maybe it’s time to replace the US’s timeworn motto with one more suitable: “Progressus Gratis Progressus.” After all, “E Pluribus Unum” hardly applies today.
E Pluribus Unum has a strange history. I’d have to verify it since it has been so long since I read about it. Suffice it to say, it wasn’t a motto from the founding.
I like the new logo. Again, it is very subtle. Honestly, not that age alone qualifies for tradition, the older one is not that old. However, it does kind of bother me if the more curvy “NFL” is no longer on the football itself.
As I said in our mails, I have not enjoyed MNF anywhere near as much as I did when I was a young boy. I miss Howard Cosell (not much can be done about that) and the half-time highlights. I would wait with great anticipation to see of the Saints were going to make the highlights.
I guess the current logo has 25 stars because that is how many teams made up the NFL at the time of its design? I think the redo is more about the new discipline policy and the new commish than anything. I mean, he is trying to run a tighter ship, a “cleaner” version of the NFL. He also wants the players to walk the straight and narrow, so the logo itself is “thinner” and the NFL is blocked letters now instead of curvy letters - much more definition. He wants the players to earn respect with good behavior so they can hold their heads up high, thus the new logo is “taller”. And then there’s the starts. I think we all know what the 8 stars represent. The minimum arrests allowed per team in a single season before the entire organization is suspended for 4 games. This is a personal message to the Bungles for last years “dec”adence (10 arrests). Goodell is trying to teach these kids some lessons. And with the new logo, they will be reminded of his rules all the time. Give ‘em hell Goodell!
Change is good.
Strange. I never thought anything was wrong with the old logo until I saw it beside the new design. It now looks not bad at all, just a bit outdated, and the football looks like a coffee bean. Still, it will always maintain a certain lustre that comes with years of tradition.
In 1980, there were 28 NFL teams, not 25, like you’d think based on the extrapolation of logic used for the stars in this new logo. Why 25, then? It is not that there would be 28 with the football taken away and the lines of stars complete on the logo either. It seems they were merely decorations that also had the intent to reinforce the NFL as America’s sport of choice.
One more intramural comment:
“E pluribus unum” may not be pre-Declaration, but it is pre-Constitution. It appeared on the Great Seal in 1782. You can see the design for the original seal here at the National Archives.