New England Patriots didn’t win super bowl XLVI tonight, but watching the game I couldn’t help think about the teams logos displayed prominently on the players helmets. The teams over the years have been rebranding with new logo-marks to capture the lucrative apparel sales. While all-stars certainly drive jersey sales, great looking logos certainly help with a rabid fan base being the clincher.
So what makes a good logo for the macho sport of football? It’s certainly not fussy, overly detailed and somewhat comic style logo’s that were common of the legacy logos from thirty years ago. In the logo above, New England’s Pat Patriot character which debuted in 1961 epitomizes this genre. This type of logo may have worked in the sixties, but it’s not going to work in the era of HD-TV, video games and computer apps with millions of recognizable icons. The current NFL team logos are masculine, dynamic, bold and well – graphic. In fact, simplicity rules!
The current logo still embraces The Patriot, but uses a very stylized version of the figure. Attributes including simple lines exuding motion, players face with squared jawed intense form, colors which are patriotic including flag star iconography. Gone are the player’s body, uniform, football (yes we know the game is football) and we are left with an incredibly strong logo-mark that may well become timeless.
Bottom Line: The New England Patriots rank 5th in NFL merchandise sales, the New York Giants rank number 8, but I am sure that will change after tonight’s Giants win. So who is the number one team? My hometown team the Steelers, which proves that design isn’t everything. In retail, you also need committed customers (or in football fanatical fans), which makes Pittsburgh the best fan base in the country!
Logos from the Sportslogos.net
Design & the Bottom Line 