SUPER LOGO
The NFL has revealed the official logo for Super Bowl XLV
By Mickey Spagnola
Friday, September 3, 2010 - 4:31am
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The NFL was searching for something iconic, something that said Super Bowl.
You know, like when you see the blue star on the side of a helmet, that’s Dallas Cowboys.
When you see the intertwined N and Y, you know it’s the New York Yankees.
When you see the five rings, you know it’s the Olympics.
Some things should never change.
And now the NFL has come up with a permanent core design for the Super Bowl logo, one that was unveiled Thursday at the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee’s “plaza” at the Media Center, and fittingly so since the logo will make its debut next year when the Super Bowl makes its North Texas debut.
This wasn’t just any unveiling. This came with a certain amount of pomp and circumstance, next year’s Host Committee making sure that Chairman Roger Staubach was on hand for the ceremony, along with the Host Committee’s President and CEO Bill Lively, and former Cowboys such as Daryl Johnston, Tony Dorsett and Leon Lett to name a few.
Also fitting, the logo was first presented to the public on the center-hung video screen, a small-scale replica of the video screen at Cowboys Stadium that is the signature item of the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee’s presentation here at the Media Center.
“I think it’s great,” Lively said of the Super Bowl XLV logo. “It has the Lombardi Trophy, it has the Cowboys Stadium, and it has the Roman numerals. And the aggregate icon is rather majestic.
“They sort of are emulating the rings for the Olympics. It will live on for another year with adaptations, but we’re glad to start it with XLV.”
So the idea is very simple yet classy. Make the Lombardi Trophy, given to the Super Bowl winner, the centerpiece of the logo, and place the highly-recognizable hardware that is synonymous with the Super Bowl on a platform of that year’s Roman numeral.
Then to bring some regional flavor to each Super Bowl logo, the stadium of where the game will be played is included in part of the design each year.
And viola, you have the Lombardi Trophy sitting on Roman numerals XLV, with Cowboys Stadium placed behind the base of the trophy, all silver, sort of keeping in the architectural color of Cowboys Stadium.
“What we’re doing with the logo is trying to reflect the stature and preeminence of the Super Bowl,” said Mark Waller, Chief Marketing Officer of the NFL who represented the League during the presentation. “Given the global size and scale of the Super Bowl we really wanted a design that was permanent and that really could emphasize the prestige and stature of the game.
“So we decided to focus very much on the (Lombardi) Trophy and the structures that host these incredible games.”
Not only is the NFL changing the design of the Super Bowl logo, which previously changed significantly from year to year – the yearly designs depending on where the game was being played – but the League also has changed the design of the conference championship trophies (AFC’s Lamar Hunt Trophy and NFC’s George Halas Trophy), along with the logos for the playoff games and the conference championship games.
Waller said about a year ago NFL officials began brainstorming the idea with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, and decided since the game is so prominent, there should be a static symbol of the game, much like the NFL shield logo. And when they decided this was a good idea, they enlisted the help of Landor of San Francisco to design the logo, along with Tiffany, the designer of the Lombardi Trophy.
And while there will be a core design, the NFL did not lose sight of regionalizing the logo each year to reflect the city and stadium where the game is being played. That not only will include the stadium being incorporated into the logo, but also color befitting to the area or stadium.
“Every style guide will be customized for the particular city, and will have the colors of the city reflect the architecture of the area and reflect the local regional attributes,” Waller said. “You’ll get an awful lot of regional variation.”
The NFL also presented Staubach with an official NFL football with the Super Bowl XLV logo as part of the ceremony. And leave it to Staubach to get into the action, throwing a little short pass into the crowd to George Dunham, part of the popular Dunham and Miller Show on Sports Radio 1310 The Ticket in Dallas whose partner Craig Miller emceed the event.
“I get to play the first series of the next Super Bowl for both teams,” said Staubach to the laughter of those attending the presentation.
And when it was suggested he really wasn’t kidding all that much, the Hall of Fame quarterback said, “And I can do it.”
Knowing Staubach, he probably could.
But he knows now beyond a shadow of a doubt that the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee’s work will significantly ramp up with the game just a year away come Saturday.
“When the game is over Sunday, we’re on the meter,” Staubach said. “We’ll be rolling out the carpet for everybody. We have the cooperation to make this work and happen.”
If that happens, then maybe Staubach’s desire to have another one of these balls with another logo on it in five years just might come true. Staubach was referring to North Texas, if all goes as planned, wanting to bid on Super Bowl L.
The single letter certainly challenging to this new logo design.
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