Charlotte Unveils New Hornets Logo
The Charlotte Bobcats unveiled a new logo that will be the franchise re-branding as the “Charlotte Hornets” for the upcoming 2014-15 NBA season. The new logo, seen above, was announced during halftime of Charlotte’s home game against Utah at the Time Warner Cable Arena.
“Tonight is a special night for all the fans in the Carolinas,” Bobcats owner Michael Jordan told the home crowd. “You guys asked and we delivered.”
“The logos are the foundation of an organization’s brand identity, and our goal was to design logos that would have awareness, be relevant and resonate with fans,” Bobcats president Fred Whitfield. “We developed a logo that physically depicted the characteristics and DNA of the type of team we want on the court, as well as those of hornets and the city of Charlotte.”
The Bobcats also announced that the original Hornets’ popular mascot, “Hugo the Hornet,” will also return next season. Merchandise bearing the new logos will be available on Jan. 18 2014.
Jordan announced in May that the Bobcats would re-brand as the Hornets shortly after the New Orleans Hornets relinquished the nickname by becoming the “Pelicans” for this season. The original Hornets joined the NBA as an expansion franchise in 1988 and spent 14 seasons in Charlotte before being moved to New Orleans by former owner George Shinn in 2002. Shinn opted to keep the nickname but eventually sold the franchise to the NBA in 2010. In April 2012, the league sold the franchise to Tom Benson, who sought the Pelicans name change to better reflect the team’s home.
The Bobcats joined the NBA as an expansion franchise in 2004. Jordan purchased a majority stake in the Bobcats in 2010. While Bobcats are indigenous to the Carolinas, the Charlotte Observer noted last December that the “Charlotte Hornets” moniker drew its inspiration from the 1700s.
**The Hornets nickname in Charlotte dates back to the Revolutionary War, when British General Charles Cornwallis compared the resistance in Charlotte to a hornet’s nest. It has been used in sports by a minor league baseball team (1901-73), an upstart football league team (1974-75) and the city’s first NBA franchise.**
The Bobcats offered this conceptual background on the new primary logo.
**The primary logo utilizes the purple and teal color palette and features an aggressive-looking hornet that is ready to attack. Its piercing eyes, raised antennae, expanded wings and pointed stinger depict its relentless intensity. Incorporated within the logo is a basketball that doubles as the hornet’s body. The Charlotte Hornets wordmark is written across the insect. The logo contains several odes to that of the original Hornets with its white wings, white accents within its eyes, a stinger and the inclusion of a basketball.**