Before the people of Kansas City developed their longstanding and staunch support for the Kansas City Royals baseball team, they had been abandoned by their previous city franchise. The Kansas City Athletics used to

Kansas City Royals Primary Logo 2002 - 2018

represented the city in the American League in the past. Unfortunately, the owner of the sports franchise had been unhappy about the city for almost a decade before he got enough votes in the American League to allow the move. After relocating the city’s baseball franchise to Oakland, Charlie Finley attracted massive criticism from the then-Missouri US Senator. Stuart Symington demanded that the American League create a new franchise for the city, and the Kauffmans earned their place in the city's legacy by founding the Royals.

Ewing Kauffman decided to give Hallmark Cards the job of creating the Franchise’s logo after concluding the name-the-team contest that had over 1,700 entries. Hallmark Cards had been operating in the city since 1910, and the design firm had its work cut out for it. The logo had to capture the city and team names. The franchise was named the Kansas City Royals because the city was a leading livestock stockyard, and it hosted the American Royal parade. That is why some of Hallmark Cards’ logo entries included cattle symbols.

Kansas City Royals Primary Logo 1969 - 1978

Hallmark Cards engaged 15 artists, and the winning one was Shannon Manning. He captured the desired imagery and messaging in sheer simplicity. The logo had to take into consideration that it would appear on the uniform, stationery, and other advertising materials. Shannon had to revise his initial submission to meet the expectations of Hallmark’s client Ewing Kauffman. The imagery was simple and clear. He superscripted a big and ultra-white capital letter R with the initials KC, which appeared in gold, and put it in a blue shield. He went further to place a golden crown on the shield and finished the logo by placing the word royals at the bottom and in caps and gold.

Shannon Manning explained that he was designing the logo for a 1969 team and tried to make the imagery as contemporary as possible. In his imagery, the franchise name ‘Royals’ took center stage. He placed simplified but significant emphasis on the concept of royalty. He captured the mood of majesty that the newly formed Kansas City Royals team needed coming into the Major League Baseball.

Surprisingly, the Kansas City Royals have consistently maintained a focus on the simple things that bring the team and its people together. For over 45 years, since the team’s foundation, its logo has remained essentially unchanged. It only makes minor changes that have a significant impact on the brand and its influence on its vast fan base. Manning’s crown logo stands over 100 feet high, having been designed by him as the winner of a branding competition coordinated and organized by Hallmark Cards. The extensive global baseball community identifies with it because it adorns one of the most popular scoreboards in baseball history.
Despite the consistency, there have been changes made over the years. The changes essentially shifted the focus from the R to the KC.

In our opinion, the logo now looks the best among all their logos in history. I think the logo should be, on the one hand, minimalist and, on the other hand, distinct from others, showcasing unique symbols of the exact team. The new logo has all this - have a look:

Kansas City Royals Primary Logo 2019 - Present

The Crown indicates that they are “Royals,” and KC shapes direct us straight to Kansas City; however, in previous models, there was a duplication of “R” and “Royals.” In 2019, the focus shifted entirely from the Royals to Kansas City.

Logo tweaks aren’t typically something baseball fans think about. And with changes so minor to the primary logo, it isn’t like it really is a big deal. Additionally, the old primary logo will still appear occasionally as an alternative logo.

But, hopefully, the change in the logo will help to signify the shift in play on the field. Last season was not one anyone wants to duplicate during 2019. There have only been three other teams that tweaked their logos during the offseason this year: the Philadelphia Phillies, Tampa Bay Rays, and the Miami Marlins.

It seems that there is always a deliberate and dedicated reason for changing little aspects of a well-known brand, such as the Kansas City Royals. Most of the changes are influenced by time, history, and contemporary issues.