Sunshine State Branding Updates
Wednesday · Jan 26 · 2011 | 2:13 AM PSTBoth of Florida's professional hockey franchises are planning makeovers for 2011. And new information is trickling out bit by bit. Obviously, we have to start with my team.
The Tampa Bay Lightning initially planned to unveil new logos and uniforms for the 2011-12 season on Monday. They wisely put those plans on the back burner, however, when two local police officers were killed. Now they're gearing up to try again next week.
On Sunday, the St. Petersburg Times was the first to report on details of the coming changes. Specifically, the Bolts will drop black and silver as part of their color scheme, which has been unchanged since the club's inception in 1992.
Times writer Damian Cristodero explained that the new home sweaters would be blue with nothing but a big white bolt of lightning on the front. In a blog update posted Tuesday, he clarified, saying the logo will still have a circular background. The road jersey will incorporate a TAMPA BAY wordmark.
Now the Tampa Tribune is getting in on the action. Tony Fabrizio reports that there will be a "series of announcements next week" in which the new branding efforts will be revealed as well as plans for improvements to the St. Pete Times Forum.
Fabrizio says the Lightning will unveil a revised logo, going on to write:
Based on what employees have been told, here's at least part of what the Lightning have planned:
New blue and white uniforms with blue rather than black home jerseys (similar to the current blue alternate jerseys). There's an updated lightning bolt, and the name Tampa Bay will only appear on the white road jerseys. The jerseys will have ties at the front of the collars.
I'm jealous of Lightning employees right now. For so many reasons, really, but this is just the latest.
They just updated the logo and uniforms in 2007, which wasn't a huge deviation from what they've worn since 1992. I'm not sure how much you can change the logo so it sounds like the color scheme will be the biggest shock to the system. That might take some time to get used to.
"The Panther" / NHL.comAs for the Florida Panthers, I'm irked to say that the useless NHL Guardian Project may be newsworthy today.
Don't worry, it's still entirely useless, but it does indicate to us that the Cats are probably counting on keeping out the red moving forward.
As you can see, "The Panther" is all about the blue and gold and he's wearing Florida's third jersey crest rather than the leaping cat primary mark — which is clearly not long for this earth. It's being replaced all over.
I want to thank Carlos for pointing this out to me — as I'm trying desperately to ignore the "guardians" at all costs. Also a tip of the hat to Joseph for always being the first to email in anything Lightning-related.
I should express a concern regarding the color changes that appear to be taking place in Tampa and Sunrise. It sounds as if the originality these clubs have had from the beginning is about to go by the wayside.
Yes, the NHL already has a blue/white team in the Maple Leafs. And they have two blue/gold teams in the Sabres and Blues. Before the Florida teams arrived, nobody was black-blue-silver or red-blue-gold (since the '70s, anyway — and the Blues don't count).
Anyway, that's just the tip of the iceberg on the blue and gold. We've been hearing unsettling things about the Predators' changes for 2011-12. But I'll save that for later.
In the meantime, enjoy the All-Star events this weekend and brace yourself for what's to come next week.
Reader Comments (33)
Purple and gold > blue and gold
Taking all this new information into account. Im in the works of a new updated Bolts and Panthers Jerseys. Its interesting the guardian project has shown that and it may lead to a interesting idea for the Jerseys. If the Jerseys are a indication to what the Jerseys will be who knows?
I'm rather glad that the NHL Guardians project has passed under my radar...until this morning - lets just say I nearly saw my breakfast for the second time today. A truly baffling project by the league. I wonder how long it will be before one of this monstrosities ends up on a t-shirt, a hat, or worse, a jersey.
Welcome back to the 1990's everybody!
I'll be sad to see silver & black leave Tampa. Maybe drop one or the other, but not both. The original Lightning jerseys were some of the best in the NHL, IMHO. The white shoulder yoke was so classic. If not for the blood stains from playing in mine, I'd probably wear it more. I thought about replacing it, but the RBK jerseys have left much to be desired...
The Panthers dropping red sucks too. I always loved their color scheme. And the logo. It used to be important - representing the actual endangered Florida Panther. Its tail was indicative of that. With only the head, it is indistinguishable from a regular cougar/puma/mountain lion. Sad.
Technically, that would've been 1982 that you're thinking of (the year the Rockies became the Devils). Plus, at least six different Hall of Famers did wear the Blues jersey that we won't mention...
Oh, and that character looks like they simply armored up T'Challa the Black Panther. Yet another fail in a series of fails for that "project"...
@DL...
What purple and gold? Nobody in the NHL wears purple and gold...
However I definitely agree that
Forum Blue & Gold > Blue and Gold.
You gotta love that Forum Blue.
Just add Tampa Bay to the growing list of NHL teams with zero creativity. I'm so sick and tired of the "word mark only" jerseys. They are always ugly. No exceptions. Are those jerseys really that popular in the southern States? To me the only purpose I can think of is to remind fair weather fans with free tickets to games which team they are supposed to cheer for (Not all fans are like this, please note!). Desperate measures are required for traditionally tough-sell markets I guess.
And how can the Lightning with a clear cut and admirable identity (blue black silver) possibly expect to get away with this Maple Leaf envy? I'm not impressed at all.
As for the Panthers, I don't think the Guardian Project should be a basis for team direction. It is after all, merely a marketing endeavour to get kids interested in hockey who wouldn't otherwise care too much. Sorry to keep you from further avoiding this Chris, but keep in mind that the Capital Guardian uses the Weagle logo on the front, and there aren't yet plans to make that the primary. Furthermore, you'll notice that "The Star" doesn't just use the pathetic "DALLAS" word mark either but rather the alternate logo. The leaping panther (and also the Capitals and Dallas word marks) just don't fit well on a superhero's chest.
I am sad to see the leaping panther die. One of my favorite logos.
I think what the NHL guardians look like probably has nothing to do with the future appearance of NHL teams, Stan Lee may be an acclaimed cartoonist, but I doubt he knows shit about hockey and probably googled each teams jerseys. He clearly did little else with the lack of any originality or personality of any of the characters.
My lawsuit sense is tingling. I hope the NHL licensed the use of The Black Panther from Marvel for their little lame-O Guardian project.
I wouldn't put too much stock into the Guardian Project for information. After all the Oilers, who unfortunately have been rumoured to go retro full time, had a character with navy and red as the main colours.
It's no coincidence that this "guardian" closely resembles Black Panther as both of them are creations of Stan Lee.
@ Morning Joe,
You know that it's Stan Lee that's behind the Guardians right? So I don't think Marvel Comics will care too much about the many many similarities.
I'm telling you, we need to start a petition to stop Yzerman from eliminating black from the Bolts' color scheme.
Seriously re: T'Challa comments. He's like the Blue and Gold Panther now, straight outta the early 90's!
Shoot, if they're gonna straight-up infringe, why not go all the way? The Lightning's Guardian should just be 1) Blue & White Captain Marvel, 2) Quicksilver, who already sports the right colors, or 3) Blue Flash. It'd be better than the Electric Mohawk Man they have now. Okay enough about this junk.
Just to clarify, the team is just unveiling its plan to change the uniforms for next year right? The team isn't gonna transition into them mid-season a la the Wolf Pack/Whale situation is it?
I really like the current Lightning jerseys, but thats cool... I'll buy them on discount NEXT season
@ Morning Joe. Who is Stan Lee going to sue, himself?
Red, Blue , and Gold colour schemes Clash WAAAAAY too much. There's a reason no other NHL team has used it, and personally I am very glad that the Panthers are getting rid of it.
from reading the tea leaves, the Preds are going to have a gold or yellow home jersey next year. not official, but just me putting 2+2 together.
haha i have to say... i agree with you on the uselessness of the project.
i have too much time on my hands :(
New Preds information?
The description you gave sounds very similar to Mike Ivall's concepts that were just posted!
Chris, I'm guessing that tip of the hat is for me for the beer koozie link?
The Blues so do count! LETS GO BLUES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
=(
i'm actually really enjoying the Guardian Project. Sure its gimmicky and pointless, but its a good showcase of artwork, and its interesting to see how an artistic genius like Stan Lee perceives the NHL teams - but maybe thats just bc i'm a superhero fan as well as a hockey fan...
I'm happy to see the leaping kitty go. I always thought that that was a poor logo.
@Darryl, AFAIK Ivall used the description posted here by Chris to do the jersey concept art for the Bolts.
"You know that it's Stan Lee that's behind the Guardians right? So I don't think Marvel Comics will care too much about the many many similarities."
Guess what. Stan created Black Panther. But Marvel owns Black Panther. Stan doesn't have the right to use Marvel property for his own company's endeavors.
These teams are definitely losing their originality by the minute, and it's very sad. Neither of them have much reason to change whatsoever.
Also, the NHL Guardian Project is sweet. You are way off base on that one.
Soooo... The Panther's guardian is The Black Panther with a color swatch and a logo?... Terrible.
I really hope the guardian project was done free of charge. Wow, was that stupid or what? Hopefully, it will never be mentioned or see again.
Seeing the other options for the Jackets, they definitely went in the right direction. The designs with cannons were the only creative ones, and I prefer the less cartoony version that won out. Were the CBJ and rehash of the current logo only put in to tilt the focus group towards the cannon designs? Otherwise, they were useless. I love the end result. Nice job in TB, too - they finally left the 90s.
I have heard... not that this necessarily holds water... but I have heard that Dale Tallon expressed an interest in the return of the red in Florida and that he hates our thirds. Just one more reason he wins, really. Not sure how much clout he has in something like jersey design though.