The SuperSonics unveiled their new logo at the team's
practice facility yesterday. Team officials and NBA Properties
President Rick Welts introduced the new look, which incorporates
the Space Needle with a forest green and yellow color, as well as
two new colors, bronze and scarlet. The logo features a
basketball orbiting around the word "Sonics," with the Space
Needle representing the letter "I." New uniforms for the team
will be introduced at a fashion show November 2 (Full House
Sports & Entertainment). ESPN's Keith Olbermann on the new logo:
"Good evening and welcome to the city of merchandise. Another
NBA team has changed its logo, the third this summer, and it
looks like the 'Del Monte' logo" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 7/6).
The Sonics are the third team in the NBA to change their logo
since the season's end, joining the Hawks and Rockets.
NOT SO EASY: The current issue of THE SPORTING NEWS looks
at the Rockets logo and uniform change. Although it may seem
like a marketing move to boost merchandise sales in the aftermath
of two NBA Championships, Tom Sosnowski writes that "it is the
protracted process of changing an NBA logo that has put the
Rockets in a position to don new duds for the '95-96 season" (THE
SPORTING NEWS, 7/10 issue).
NUMBER 4: The Grizzlies unveiled their fourth logo, a
secondary mark, a traditional figure known as "Hyas Chetowoot" --
"Great Bear" in the early language used between the aboriginal
Canadians and settlers (Grizzlies).
