Charlotte owner Michael Jordan unveils the Hornets’ new logos and mascot (photos)
The Charlotte Bobcats have been overcoming the bug for over a year now, almost immediately after the former New Orleans Hornets announced last winter that they were abandoning their nickname in favor of “Pelicans.” After some financial and intra-league scrutiny, Bobcats owner Michael Jordan announced last spring that the team would indeed re-adopt the “Hornets” nickname, which it held from 1988 to 2002, when former owner George Shinn moved the team to Louisiana. In the 2013 offseason, the NBA approved the change, and earlier this season the team unveiled plans to return to the purple and teal color scheme that seemed to have served the franchise so well a quarter century ago.
All that was left to do with the redesign was unveil a new logo – even if it was quite similar to the old Charlotte Hornets logo. During halftime of Saturday’s home loss to the Utah Jazz, Jordan walked to center court to unveil the new face of the Charlotte Hornets. Here’s the new look, which comes from the Hornets themselves:
Here is the team’s new look old new mascot Hugo:
Trey Kerby of the Starters believes Hugo could be outfitted with Jordan-branded gear:
In a press release, the team explained the motivation behind the new designs:
The main logo uses the purple and teal color palette and features an aggressive looking hornet ready to attack. Its piercing eyes, raised antennae, spread wings and sharp stinger show its relentless intensity. A basketball is incorporated into the logo, which doubles as the hornet’s body. The Charlotte Hornets wordmark is written across the insect. The logo contains several odes to the original Hornets with their white wings, white accents in the eyes, a stinger and a basketball.
The logo represents several characteristics of real hornets, including their swarming and attacking nature, as well as their ferocity and relentlessness in protecting their nests. These same characteristics are associated with the city of Charlotte itself. The city’s rebellious, aggressive and protective nature dates back to the Revolutionary War, when British commander General Cornwallis referred to Charlotte as “a hornet’s nest of rebellion.”
“Logos are the foundation of a company’s brand identity and our goal was to design logos that are recognizable, relevant and resonate with our fans,” said Fred Whitfield, President & COO of Bobcats Sports & Entertainment. “We developed a logo that physically represents the characteristics and DNA of the type of team we want on the court, as well as that of the Hornets and the city of Charlotte.”
It’s possible that some may not be happy with the “old is new again” approach, even if the color scheme, logo and mascot are slightly different, but such a change is understandable considering how miserable life has been for Charlotte NBA fans since 2002.
Former owner Shinn angered the city with his off-the-field antics and meddling, and moved to New Orleans without any real guarantee that NOLA could support a team better than the Queen City, leaving behind a community that once regularly packed the Charlotte Coliseum to capacity to see their Hornets play. Shinn eventually sold his Hornets to the NBA (which traded the team to Tom Benson), while the league—aware that the NBA had an odd number of teams and that Charlotte fans used to support a franchise in droves—decided to expand, adding another Charlotte team soon after.
Robert Johnson would become the owner of that franchise, choosing the nickname “Bobcats” in part because of his own nickname (it was “Bob,” folks), before embarking on a rather unsuccessful first half-decade in the NBA. Hiring Jordan as personnel director in 2006 did little to help, as MJ bet everything on a bunch of talent with little upside, made the playoffs in 2009 but with a mediocre record, and fell back into the lottery the following year (where Jordan often missed with draft picks). Jordan took over ownership midway through the 2009-10 season, slashed salaries, and presided over a devastating streak from 2011-13 in which the Bobcats won just 28 of 148 attempts.
This year, the record has improved to 13-15 under new coach Steve Clifford (the team’s sixth coach during Jordan’s tenure), but overall it was a miserable streak. Even if the team makes the playoffs for the second time in its history this year, there are plenty of Charlotte fans who would rather forget the 2002-2014 season.
A change to the team’s name, colors and logo in time for 2014-15 could go a long way toward eradicating this selective amnesia. Welcome back, Hugo.
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Kelly Dwyer
is editor for Ball doesn’t lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
