The Los Angeles Clippers are rebranding for the 2024-25 season, and they’re fully embracing the nautical history of their name.
The Clippers revealed their new logo on Monday, which features a naval ship (AKA a clipper, what the team is actually named after) with basketball lines etched into the hull, inside the the letter C, which is adorned with compass lines. The ship has basketball lines They employ two different fonts in their various logos and wordmarks, one that is meant to mimic the font used on the hulls of ships, and a thick-lined slanted script.
In 1978, the “Clippers” were born when the Buffalo Braves relocated to San Diego.
Now, the team’s new logo pays homage to their nautical roots. pic.twitter.com/FnYHhn52jg
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) February 26, 2024
The rebrand is timed to coincide with the team’s move to the Intuit Dome later this year, so the logo will be used full time next season.
The new logo is the result of a process that began a decade ago when Steve Ballmer bought the team. He and his executives metaphorically stripped the Clippers down to the studs, reconsidering every aspect of the team, including the name. But a name change never even made it to the drawing board, at least partially due to fan reaction. Via ESPN:
Feedback from fans was consistently against a potential name change, team officials said, describing the fan response to any suggestion of a name change as “outright hostility.”
The feedback struck Ballmer. “The focus groups are advisory, not definitive,” Ballmer told ESPN. “But I still listen to them, and I have heard, partially to my surprise, that there is no interest in a name change. I had thought about [the name] years ago, before I got the team, but we heard similar reactions back then.”
So Ballmer decided to go with a rebrand. Gillian Zucker, president of business operations for the Clippers and Intuit Dome, told ESPN that fan feedback helped them identify the theme.
“People said this a hundred times — ‘This team has direction now,'” Zucker said. “They said it over and over.”
A new logo means new uniforms, and Clippers stars Kwahi Leonard, Paul George, and James Harden (who has never looked happier) modeled the new togs.
There new unis feature some nice details. “Clips,” Ballmer’s favorite nickname for the Clippers, is stitched onto the front center of the waistband of the shorts. The letters LAC are spelled out in the nautical alphabet under each player’s arms.
Just like the logo, the new uniforms won’t make their official debut until the start of the 2024-25 season, when the Clippers have finally moved into the Intuit Center.
Source Agencies
