American Athletic Conference unveils its primary logo
May 30, 2013


The new American Athletic Conference (AAC) logo. The conference begins play this fall. / Provided: American Athletic Conference

Written by
Dan Wolken
USA TODAY Sports

In April, school presidents officially chose American Athletic Conference but until today have not been able to use the symbol that will go on everything from uniforms to football fields to recruiting materials.

"It's another step in reinventing the conference, and it's a big one," Aresco said.

Because of the importance, the league employed two advertising firms to submit logo designs and went to every campus in the league to get feedback from coaches, administrators and even athletes.

League officials ultimately chose the logo designed and recommended by MadCreek Advertising out of Upper Montclair, N.J.

"We wanted it to be a little traditional, but very new-looking," said LeslieAnne Wade, managing partner of Wade Media Management and a marketing consultant for the league. "The main focus was really creating something that looks like a sports brand and a sports logo. When you get into the use of the word American, there are a lot of corporate logos, and we didn't want it to look like that. We were looking for really a clean, simple strong symbol."

Beyond the challenge of avoiding something that looked corporate, the league also couldn't build the logo around an acronym. From the very beginning, the conference office has been adamant that it wants to be known as The American instead of the AAC to avoid confusion with the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Thus, the primary symbol for the league will be the blue "A" with red star, though a set of horizontal marks will be available for schools to use with the entire word "American." As Aresco pointed out, Navy, which will join the league as a football-only member in 2015, might not want a singular "A" on its field since its primary rival is Army. MadCreek is currently putting together a style book for how the logos should be used, but Aresco said schools will have the latitude to tailor the colors if they choose.

Earlier this month, the league brought Powerpoint presentations to each campus that showed in both red and blue all of the logo's various applications, from how it would look on a basketball court to how it would look on television. Out of those meetings, a consensus was established that the logo's primary color should be blue.

"It's something we instantly liked, and in showing it to people (on campuses), we wanted to know whether they would like it," Aresco said. "It generated the kind of buy-in you want, and I'm hoping it gets that kind of response (nationally)."

The American also consulted with ESPN, which became the league's primary media rights holder.

"It's tremendously appealing to the networks and the digital people that there's a clear single image for them to work with," Wade said. "As we were creating it, the real goal for my team was to create something that was athletic, that was aspirational, that reflected the landscape."

The American will be a 10-team league in 2013 with Big East holdovers Louisville, Rutgers, UConn, South Florida, Cincinnati and Temple along with newcomers from Conference USA in Houston, SMU, Central Florida and Memphis. In 2014, East Carolina, Tulane and Tulsa will be added as Louisville heads to the ACC and Rutgers departs to the Big Ten.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130...imary-logo

Reminds me of the old AFL logo. Looks nice - simple, sharp, colorful. Just hope the teams produce on the field and gain some respect.

Classy! I like the sunbursts in all of the logo sets. Makes it look very modern, but the logo overall is simple and recognizable.

They could have saved a few bucks and just used Arizona's logo:

Yeah...I think it looks a bit like a Looney Tunes-ification of the Arizona logo myself. With how long it took them to unveil this, they could've come up with something a bit less amateurish.

Dare I say that this got me a little stoked.

Was this chosen from a competition among middle school graphic design classes?

(05-30-2013 09:11 AM)Bearcat2012 Wrote:  

Dare I say that this got me a little stoked.

"You want to see a strong unified conference" Why would anyone make a statement like that, when everyone in the entire country knows that UC and UConn want to leave at the first chance they get?

Even on the front page of the conference website is says: "Strong. Stable. United." I think advertising statements like that has the reverse effect and causes you to not be taken seriously.

(05-30-2013 09:12 AM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  Was this chosen from a competition among middle school graphic design classes?

I expected nothing less than that response from you. The consumate negative.

I like the design but it really doesn't mean matter. Conference logo's are virtually meaningless. All anyone really cares about is the teams in the conference and the teams in the conference are what stink, not the logo.

I tend to gravitate towards simplistic logo's and letting the conf teams performance speak for the conf. I think the logo serves its purpose. At least we do not have silly division names, such as Leaders / Legends.

It's fine...no better or worse than any of the other Conference logos. I like it better than the Big 10 or PAC 12's, especially.

A downward shooting star?

Barstool Sports take:

http://barstoolu.barstoolsports.com/m/ra...ence-logo/

Quote:Not bad. I’d line the inside of that A with the American flag though. And I’d have like 2 soldiers shooting terrorists dead in the face on the right, and the Statue of Liberty doing the Heisman pose on top of France’s ***** head on the left. Just to spruce things up a little bit and go full ‘Murica. But what do I know, I’m just a professional logo smoke patroller.

This is one of those "does this dress make me look fat" moments. We all know the issues with the new conference
and no logo will do more than put lipstick on the pig.

(05-30-2013 09:38 AM)nachoman91 Wrote:  

(05-30-2013 09:12 AM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  Was this chosen from a competition among middle school graphic design classes?

I expected nothing less than that response from you. The consumate negative.

I like the design but it really doesn't mean matter. Conference logo's are virtually meaningless. All anyone really cares about is the teams in the conference and the teams in the conference are what stink, not the logo.

HAHAHA! Nondescript conference. Appropriately generic logo. On the revenue that will be rolling in, glad they saved the money and swiped a conference logo from Tecmo Bowl.

I do appreciate the imagery of the star that appears to be about to crater.

If they wanted to more accurately depict the conference, the logo should have been a door frame with all the team mascots stuck inside, simultaneously trying to get out.

If the teams produce, the logo will look good.

Yep. If not, that star will symbolize the Tunguska Event for our football program.

(05-30-2013 09:38 AM)nachoman91 Wrote:  

(05-30-2013 09:12 AM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  Was this chosen from a competition among middle school graphic design classes?

I expected nothing less than that response from you. The consumate negative.

I like the design but it really doesn't mean matter. Conference logo's are virtually meaningless. All anyone really cares about is the teams in the conference and the teams in the conference are what stink, not the logo.

I agree. I think it's well done.

But in the end, the results on the field and court will be what matter in the end.

Where did they find that strange looking star..............I have an idea.