The Florida Panthers unveiled a new logo on Thursday at the BB&T Center and it’s pretty spiffy.
It’s official – we have a new look!!
Details » https://t.co/xewByUYgZl pic.twitter.com/UVUy0sN0pX— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) June 2, 2016
.@FlaPanthers secondary logo pic.twitter.com/vZi75AhucI
— George Richards (@GeorgeRichards) June 2, 2016
Shawn Thornton, Steven Kampfer, Vincent Trocheck and Aaron Ekblad took to the stage wearing different variations of the jersey.
As expected, the Panthers new logo is identical to the one leaked by Paul Lukas of Uni-Watch and Chris Creamer of SportsLogos.net. Here’s how they described the logo when it was released.
“The logo follows the same formula as what we wrong about back in January, a military badge style shield (modeled after that of the 101st Airborne) containing a panther head and the team named arched over the top.”
Despite appearing like a shoulder patch or alternate logo, this is the new primary logo, it will appear on the front of the new Florida Panthers jerseys with a horizontal stripe across the chest..”
The ceremony was a tad awkward. Once owner Vincent Viola was given the mic, he rambled on and on about the team. He claimed the team was going to win multiple Stanley Cups, encouraged fans to yell “sign” at Aaron Ekblad and Vincent Trocheck and also said he’ll miss Erik Gudbranson who was going to continue his Hall of Fame career. It was odd.
Once he finished up, Panthers radio personalities hyped up the crowd, they showed a team video, brought out Ed Jovanovski, show more videos and unveiled the jerseys. You can watch the entire awkward ceremony here.
Despite the awkward ceremony, the logo is solid. The Panthers rebranded and it actually improved their look. That’s uncommon. Florida players will debut the new logo in 2016-17.
