This is simply too cool not to share.
Segments Design
Icethetics reader James T. pointed me the way of this unique piece of artwork by Segments Design. It was posted on the company's Facebook page last Friday. It's what the designer calls a "minimalist redesign" of all 30 NHL team logos. And it's pretty darn cool.
And if you really like it, you can even purchase a print.
Last weekend, my posts on Arena Logos were an unexpected hit. Turns out, like me, a lot of you are fans of the esoteric. So I thought I'd revisit the subject by displaying some arena logos that are no longer in use. Check out the retirees.
From 2005 to 2009, the home of the Boston Bruins was known as TD Banknorth Garden. Four years ago, Banknorth was removed from the name and the arena is now known simply as TD Garden.
In 1999, the Buffalo Sabres' building was renamed HSBC Arena. That lasted for 12 years before they started calling it the First Niagara Center. But what the heck is going on with that logo? Might be the most abstract arena logo I've ever laid eyes on.
One of the more recent arena name changes saw Raleigh's RBC Center become PNC Arena last year. The Carolina Hurricanes call that building home.
Thanks to its unique roof design, the home of the Calgary Flames will always be called the Saddledome. But that doesn't mean sponsors won't try to stick their names in front of it. Before Scotiabank shelled out in 2010, Pengrowth Energy paid for 10 years worth of naming rights.
When United Airlines merged with Continental Airlines, a corporate rebranding led to a new logo for the United Center as well. This logo was used from the day the doors opened in 1994 until 2011. The Chicago Blackhawks have played there since 1995.
Not unlike the situation with United Airlines, when Pepsi rebranded itself, Denver's Pepsi Center also got a new logo. It was a really more of an update with some mountains added and the sponsor's logo revised. Still, what you see here is how the arena was branded when it started hosting Colorado Avalanche games in 1999. The new logo came about in 2009.
The home of the Florida Panthers has endured more than its share of names during its relatively short life so far. This was the third logo used since the arena opened in 1998. It was known as the BankAtlantic Center from 2005 until 2012, when it became the BB&T Center.
The New Jersey Devils got a shiny new home in the Prudential Center in 2007. But before that, they played out of the Continental Airlines Arena. That building actually became the Izod Center shortly after the Devils moved out.
The Nashville Predators played at Sommet Center from 2007 to 2010. There was a lot of drama with the company that paid for the name so the building actually went back to its original name, Nashville Arena, for a short time before Bridgestone stepped in. Speaking of which...
Eagle-eyed readers might take note that there have actually been two logos during the Bridgestone Arena era. This one above was the original. But it only lasted one season because of Bridgestone's corporate rebranding in 2011. To see the differences in the company's logos side-by-side, look here.
I'm not exactly sure when the change happened on Long Island, but this was the longtime logo of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum before the current logo came along. The new mark features the New York Islanders colors of orange and royal blue.
Now my favorite part! Between 2002 and 2012, the Tampa Bay Lightning played at the St. Pete Times Forum. The building's name changed when the newspaper's did just over a year ago. But the old logo was quite bold and quite boring. And that's not easy to achieve. But that might just be lingering distaste for the name change in the first place.
That's because when the arena opened in 1996, it was called the Ice Palace. Admit it, that's just a badass name for a hockey arena. Why did they ever change it? Everything comes down to money.
As a bonus, I stumbled across this mark in one of my old Lightning game programs. A couple readers mentioned they like seeing how arenas are represented graphically in logos. I think this is one of the coolest ever designed. But again, I'm not hiding my bias here. The ThunderDome also had a pretty great logo before it became Tropicana Field. I'm trying to track down a clean version to display here.
And finally, General Motors Place was home to the Vancouver Canucks until it was renamed Rogers Arena following the 2010 Winter Olympics. Its logo really has nothing to do with the buildling, sticking to natural elements of the Pacific Northwest — green mountains and, well, the sun is just wishful thinking.
That's all for now. One reader also suggested I tackle AHL arena logos at some point. Think I may prepare that post for next weekend if you guys are interested.
Thought it might be fun to take a look at the various arena logos from around the NHL. Yesterday you got a look at the rinks in the Western Conference. Today it's back east. Have a look.
The current home of the Boston Bruins has been colored by a series of bank mergers over the past two decades. When the Bs left their longtime home of Boston Garden in 1995, their new building was already having naming issues. The arena was supposed to be called Shawmut Center — named after Shawmut Bank. But the bank merged with FleetBoston Financial before it ever opened. So it was renamed the FleetCenter before it hosted its first game.
FleetBoston merged with Bank of America in 2004, but the FleetCenter name stuck around another year before a new deal allowed the rights holder to sell. For a month in early 2005, the name changed daily as the naming rights were auctioned off on ebay. The proceeds of that went to local charities. The building was simply known as YourGarden until TD Banknorth took over the rights in July. They kept the "Garden" part.
Then yet another merger required yet another new name for the building. In 2009, it became TD Garden — a name will still know it by today. Now, if only we can get someone to write a good pun incorporating Toronto-Dominion and the home of the Bruins.
Oh good, another arena named for a bank. That won't get us into trouble. When The Aud closed in 1996, the Buffalo Sabres got a new home. It was called Marine Midland Arena. Yes, Marine Midland was a bank, but it was actually owned by HSBC. And in 1999, they decided to rename the building the HSBC Arena. Then in 2011, First Niagara Financial Group bought up some HSBC branches and wanted their name on the building. Hence, the First Niagara Center was born.
Hey, another bank. Awesome. The Carolina Hurricanes call PNC Arena home. But that's hardly the building's original name. First of all, when the Whalers arrived in North Carolina in 1997, they were forced to play at the Greensboro Coliseum while the Raleigh Entertainment & Sports Arena was being built. When it was finished in 1999, the Canes finally moved to the town they intended.
Then in 2002, naming rights to the new building were sold to RBC Bank — turning it into the RBC Center. Bank merger alert! RBC was purchased by PNC Financial Services in 2011. They changed the name on March 15, 2012.
You've got to be kidding. I get that banks have the necessary cash for things like arena naming rights, but when you agree to that, you have to expect the name is just going to change every few years, right? Guess what. Wait for it. The Florida Panthers entered the NHL in 1993 playing out of Miami Arena — a building they shared with the NBA's Miami Heat — but moved out just five years later.
In 1998, they left for the shiny, new National Car Rental Center in Sunrise. Office Depot picked up the naming rights in 2002 for a few years. Then in 2005, it became the BankAtlantic Center. There it is. BankAtlantic was sold to BB&T in 2012 and the arena was renamed the BB&T Center.
After 72 seasons of hockey and 24 Stanley Cups in the Montreal Forum, the Montreal Canadiens departed in 1996 for the new Molson Centre. When Molson sold the team, they also gave up the naming rights. The building became the Bell Centre in 2002.
The Prudential Center, nicknamed "The Rock," is one of the newest buildings in the NHL, having been home to the New Jersey Devils since 2007. Prior to that, they played in the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, N.J. It was actually called the Brendan Byrne Arena when they arrived in 1982 — but most people referred to it as the Meadowlands Arena.
The New York Islanders are one of just a handful of NHL teams still playing in their original building after 40 years. They entered the NHL in 1972 and the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum has been the only home the Isles have ever known. But that will soon change.
The Islanders announced in October that they will move to Brooklyn in 2015 — when their lease at The Coliseum ends. Their new arena will be the Barclays Center, which opened in September 2012. (Uh oh, not another bank!)
Billed as "The World's Most Famous Arena," Madison Square Garden has been home to the New York Rangers since 1968. The original MSG was first built in 1879 in another location. The Rangers actually debuted at the third incarnation of The Garden when they joined the NHL in 1926.
The NHL expanded back into Canada's capital in 1992 with the Ottawa Senators. They played at the Ottawa Civic Centre until The Palladium opened in the middle of the 1995-96 season. Prior to the next season, the building was renamed the Corel Centre, under a 10-year naming rights deal. When it expired in 2006, it became Scotiabank Place. (Anyone counting how many banks we're up to in the east?)
By the way, since Calgary's Saddledome was renamed in 2010, Scotiabank now has its name and logo on two NHL arenas.
The Spectrum was built to house the Philadelphia Flyers in 1967. But after almost 30 years, the club upgraded to the new CoreStates Center in 1996. Wait, that's a bank. Here we go again. First Union acquired CoreStates Bank in 1998 — giving us the First Union Center. In 2003, First Union merged with Wachovia — so we had the Wachovia Center for a while. Then Wachovia was bought by Wells Fargo in 2008, but the building wasn't renamed Wells Fargo Center until 2010. How many more name changes can the "Spectrum II" endure before the existing 21-year deal is up? Only time will tell.
The NHL's newest building is the Consol Energy Center — home of the Pittsburgh Penguins since 2010. Previously, the Pens played at "The Igloo" — also known as Mellon Arena — from the time they entered the NHL during the 1967 expansion. When that arena was torn down in 2011, it was 50 years old.
After playing their first season in a glorified barn on the Florida State Fairgrounds, the Tampa Bay Lightning left Expo Hall for the aptly re-christened ThunderDome. The Dome is now known as Tropicana Field, home of the MLB's Tampa Bay Rays. In 1996, the Bolts moved into their new home — the Ice Palace. If you ask me — and I know I'm biased — that is hands-down the best name EVER for an NHL rink.
But it didn't last. The naming rights were sold to the St. Petersburg Times in 2002 and the building was called the St. Pete Times Forum. In 2012, the newspaper changed its name to the Tampa Bay Times — so the arena's name was changed as well in the middle of last season. (It also got a much cooler logo.)
The Lightning actually have kind of a funny arena story when you look back. From 1993 to 1996, the "Tampa team" played in St. Petersburg, Fla. Then a few years after they finally arrived in downtown Tampa, their arena suddenly had "St. Pete" in its name. Quite confusing for most people outside the Bay Area.
The Toronto Maple Leafs played at Maple Leaf Gardens for almost 70 years before moving to Air Canada Centre in 1999. The Gardens, by the way, now house a grocery store. So at least they didn't tear it down the way every other storied NHL building has been.
The MTS Centre has housed the new Winnipeg Jets since their arrival in 2011. Named for Manitoba Telecom Services, the arena was built by True North Sports & Entertainment and opened in 2004. It was home to the AHL's Manitoba Moose until the Jets moved in. The original Winnipeg Jets played at the Winnipeg Arena even during their WHA days in the 1970s. That building was demolished in 2006.
We finish with another building named for a telecom company — the Verizon Center, home of the Washington Capitals. It opened in 1997 as the MCI Center, but the name was changed in 2006 when Verizon acquired MCI. Prior to 1997, the Caps played at the Capital Centre, built in 1973 ahead of the team's arrival a year later. That building was renamed the USAir Arena in 1993 and again changed to US Airways Arena in 1997 when the airline rebranded itself.
Hope you found all of this as enlightening as I did. And I think if we learned one thing, it's that you should not sell naming rights to a bank. It's just going to cost you in the long run when you have to keep changing your signage every five minutes. Back to normal blog posts tomorrow.
Chris
Got an arena logo update. As of about two weeks ago, the home of the Ottawa Senators has been renamed Canadian Tire Centre. The arena naming rights are part of a larger partnership between the two organizations, announced back on June 18. The new name took effect on July 1.
So that's one less bank now!
I put together something fun for this weekend, a little two-parter. Arena logos. A little out there? Maybe. No doubt you're quite familiar with your team's arena logo, but how about the rest of the NHL? And just like with team logos, there are good ones and bad ones.
Today, we start with the Western Conference. (Tomorrow we'll do the east.)
The Anaheim Ducks call the Honda Center home — and have done since entering the league in 1993. Only back then, it was called the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim. An appropriate name for the home of a team called the Mighty Ducks. "The Duck Pond" got its current name in 2006.
The Saddledome has been home to the Calgary Flames since 1983. In that time, it's gone through a number of official names — though its always been the Saddledome thanks to its uniquely designed roof. When the arena was built, they called it the Olympic Saddledome as it was designed to host Winter Olympic events in 1988. In 1995, Canadian Airlines picked up the naming rights until it was absorbed by Air Canada in 2000. At that point, Pengrowth Energy tacked on their brand for a decade. Scotiabank took over in 2010.
Chicagoans know it as "The Madhouse on Madison," but the United Center has housed the Chicago Blackhawks since 1995 — though it actually opened in 1994. Thanks, NHL lockout. The logo changed in the fall of 2011 to sync up with the owner of the naming rights, United Airlines. When United merged with Continental, it took on Continental's globe logo.
Denver's Pepsi Center — sometimes called "The Can" — is where the Colorado Avalanche hang their skates. When it opened in 1999, it allowed the Avs to upgrade from the aging McNichols Sports Arena — which was demolished a few months later. Much like the aforementioned United Center, the Pepsi Center saw a logo change in 2009 to coincide with its naming sponsor's rebranding. By the way, before they left Quebec in 1995, the Nordiques played at the Colisée Pepsi. Coincidence?
When Ohio's capital city put in its bid for an NHL expansion franchise in 1997, things weren't looking too good on the arena front. Voters opted against paying for one. Then Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company swooped in and offered to foot the entire bill — and of course named the building after itself. Shortly thereafter, the Columbus Blue Jackets were born. They hit the ice when Nationwide Arena opened in 2000.
In 2001, the Dallas Stars left Reunion Arena for the brand new American Airlines Center. They had played in Reunion Arena since moving from Minnesota in 1993. The building was torn down in 2009.
What more needs to be said? Joe Louis Arena and the Detroit Red Wings are positively synonymous. "The Joe" has housed the Wings since it opened in 1979. And it has the best address ever — 19 Steve Yzerman Drive. Prior to that, the Wings played at the Detroit Olympia, which opened in 1927. It was demolished in 1987. Last month, the owner operator of Joe Louis Arena, Olympia Entertainment, announced plans for a downtown development which would include a new arena for the Red Wings.
Rexall Place has been surrounded by drama as of late. The Edmonton Oilers have called it home since their WHA days in the 1970s, but after almost 40 years, they're eager for a new building. The rink opened in 1974, named Northlands Coliseum after a local nonprofit. It was renamed Edmonton Coliseum about two decades later. Then in 1998, Skyreach Equipment paid to have it called Skyreach Centre. Rexall bought the naming rights in 2003 — five years before its chairman, Daryl Katz, bought the Oilers.
The Los Angeles Kings moved in to Staples Center in 1999 after 32 years at The L.A. Forum. The building stays busy as it is home to not one but two NBA franchises as well as the Kings. At one point, Staples Center had a pretty cool logo, but I think they dropped it at some point for the simpler wordmark seen above. Correct me if I'm wrong, L.A. readers.
In order to bring NHL hockey back to Minnesota, the state funded the construction of a new arena in 1998. The Xcel Energy Center opened just in time for the arrival of the Minnesota Wild in 2000.
Bridgestone Arena has been home to the Nashville Predators since their inception in 1998. But when it opened in 1996, it was simply known as Nashville Arena. Three years later, it became the Gaylord Entertainment Center when one of the Predators' stakeholders signed a 20-year naming agreement. However in 2005, Gaylord sold its stake in the company and agreed to give up the naming rights.
The building was called Nashville Arena again until 2007 when it was renamed Sommet Center. But when the Sommet Group stopped making payments — and the FBI and IRS subsequently went knocking on their door for other reasons — another named vanished into thin air. It was back to Nashville Arena once more briefly in 2010. That's when Bridgestone came along and made an offer.
In 2003, the Phoenix Coyotes departed the America West Arena — and the city of Phoenix for that matter — for what is now Jobing.com Arena. America West — now US Airways Center — was horrible for hockey so the team had a new arena built in Glendale, Arizona. The Glendale Arena at Westgate opened and welcomed the Coyotes in the middle of the 2003-04 season. Jobing.com paid for 10 years worth of naming rights in 2006. Not to be an ass, but who here thinks the Yotes will still be playing there when the contract runs out?
Perhaps one of the coolest arena names in the NHL belongs to HP Pavilion at San Jose — at least since the Ice Palace was renamed. The Pavilion is home to the San Jose Sharks, who moved in when the building opened in 1993. The team played its first two seasons at the tiny Cow Palace in Daly City, California. Upon arriving at "The Shark Tank," it was officially known only as San Jose Arena. It got its first naming sponsor in 2001 when it became the Compaq Center. When HP bought Compaq, they renamed the building after their line of personal computers — and it fit like a glove.
The St. Louis Blues moved from St. Louis Arena to Scottrade Center in 1994 — only back then it was known as Kiel Center. The name was changed to Savvis Center in 2000 but the naming rights were bought mostly with company stock — which turned out to be nearly worthless after the dot-com bubble burst. Ouch. Scottrade partnered up with the Blues in 2006 and the arena name was changed once more.
After nearly three decades of hockey at the Pacific Coliseum, the Vancouver Canucks departed for a new downtown home called General Motors Place in 1995. When the city of Vancouver hosted the Winter Olympics in 2010, the building was temporarily renamed Canada Hockey Place due to IOC restrictions on event site sponsors. Not long after that, the name was changed to Rogers Arena — and will stay that way until at least 2020 — after Rogers Communications picked up the naming rights.
Well, you made it to the end. Hopefully you found this post a little bit interesting. Check back tomorrow for all the arena logos in the NHL's Eastern Conference.
Chris
This past week, HP Pavilion got a new name. As of July 9, the home of the San Jose Sharks is now officially known as SAP Center at San Jose. But unofficially, it'll always be the Shark Tank. I mentioned in the original post that HP Pavilion was one of the coolest arena names in the NHL. Sad to see it go in favor of yet another "center." Also bummed about the new logo. But it is what it is.
If you're a regular reader, you know that Icethetics has been closely following the Dallas Stars rebrand slated for 2013. We got another little nugget yesterday straight from team owner Tom Gagliardi. And it's safe to say this new look is definitely happening.
Gagliardi spoke with Norm Hitzges on The Ticket 1310 AM in Dallas. He expressed his dislike of the team's current uniforms and logos. You can listen to the full interview on the Stars' website. Or read an excerpt here:
NH: There are rumors about the Stars might be designing a new uniform. True?
TG: It's true, yes.
NH: Any tips?
TG: Yeah, I think that it's been speculated that we're doing that. We've been an interesting team because I guess we've changed our jerseys quite often. And we end up in a place now with our current jerseys, which I quite like. I think they're very simple and attractive and modern.
But a couple things bother me. And one is the fact that we're the only team of 30 teams* that don't wear their primary logo on their chest. So I don't like that. I'm a bit of a hockey purist. And so that would be the one criticism I have of our current jersey. And I think a bit of a lack of color with our current kit. So we're looking at all those things up to and including whether we want to modify our primary logo as well.
Everything's in play right now. It's not something that's around the corner in terms of a solution or where we're going. And the earliest that you might see something is in the '13-14 season. So we might get something done for then or we might not, but it's a process that actually the franchise was going through before I even came. And so we're visiting with that right now.
But I'm a purist as I say and I'd like to see us with really a timeless, classic jersey. With timeless, classic colors. And again, that may feature a logo that's different from our current logo today. That's all in play right now, but those are my preferences for where I'd like to see the team end up. Doesn't mean that's where we're going to end up. We've got some nice history here in Dallas with some of the older jerseys that I think are really quite attractive. So we're visiting with all that stuff and our roots and trying to figure out what the best thing is for our franchise going forward.
* He's forgetting the New York Rangers, who haven't worn their logo on their chest since 1978. And even then, that was only for a few years.
It's nice to finally here the Stars talking like this somewhat officially. I know he kept hedging in that interview by saying it may or may not happen, but I can't see them pouring a bunch of money into research and development only to throw it all away in the end. I think it's safe to say the Dallas Stars will look completely different in 2013.
By the way, next year will be the club's 20th anniversary in Dallas. Can you believe it's been 20 years since the North Stars left Minnesota? How time flies.
On Tuesday, Stars Inside Edge blogger Mark Stepneski tweeted that the team was looking at new designs.
Dallas Stars team officials saw mockups of possible new uniforms in Frisco today. The specifics of the uniforms are top secret, so don't ask
— Mark Stepneski (@StarsInsideEdge) November 6, 2012
If you're curious what some Icethetics readers think the Stars should look like, check out our Concept Archive (and scroll down because the first two are Freak Out Friday posts). Also, be sure to check back on the Concepts page this coming Monday for a brand new Dallas Stars concept that involves a play on the team's own history.
