Did the Mets Try to Sneak a New Logo Past Us?

Did the New York Mets just get caught trying to alter the skyline of their famous logo?

Last night, thanks to a couple of sharp-eyed Twitterers, we learned that the Mets were using a different version of their logo on their Facebook and Twitter accounts. The difference was in the skyline — see for yourself in the comparison pic below:

The building on the far right has been changed from the United Nations to the Citigroup Center. The UN Building has been present in the New York Mets primary logo since day one, way back in 1962. While Citibank, the original namesake of this suddenly visible building, is of course the naming rights holder of the Mets current home ballpark, CitiField.

I know, right?

The Mets reacted quickly to word spreading about the change by re-instating their Twitter profile image back to the UN version of their logo, while their Facebook page deleted the profile pic altogether – it’s been replaced with Facebook’s default profile image for company pages:

You don’t typically see a major sports team using the default Facebook placeholder image as their main profile photo. It’s considered very unprofessional (but then again… Mets gonna Mets, amiright?)

So what could this all mean?

First off we can tell you for sure that the official 2014 New York Mets primary logo is the one with the UN building on the far right, the version of the skyline which they’ve always used. This version still appears on the patch worn on the team uniforms.

The logo with the Citigroup Center could be one of two things — a preview of a logo change for 2015, a sponsored logo by Citibank for use only social media, or some Mets employee screwing around and getting caught.

Options A or C seem most likely at this point. Either this is a logo which will be made official as the primary for the 2015 season and they were hoping to ease the fans into the transition (and got caught doing so) or the employee thought he’d chop the upper corner of the UN Building off for kicks.

If it were a sponsored logo for use on social media they certainly would not have deleted it as soon as it was found out, what’s the point of paying for a commercial placement if you delete it as soon as people see it? Seeing it is the entire point of paying for it.

A couple of things worth noting, which Paul Lukas pointed out in his FAQ piece on this earlier today, Citibank no longer owns the Citigroup Center (although the name and association is still popular enough with locals that they could get away with it); and the Facebook profile image logo was actually originally uploaded almost a year ago, back in the Fall of 2013, which could suggest this is not a future primary for 2015. You can also check out MetsPolice.com’s post about this to see a screenshot of the logo on their Facebook page dated November 11, 2013

Just some mystery and drama in the logo world, why not.

UPDATE Sep 16/14 10:11am ET:

Michael Baron of MetsBlog.com Tweeted this out a few minutes ago