Indiana Pacers Celebrate 50th Season in 2017

The Indiana Pacers today announced how they’ll be celebrating their upcoming 50th season of professional basketball. The announcement came on the 49th anniversary of when the team first announced they would be known as the Pacers – June 16, 1967.

“Our 50th season of professional basketball presents a tremendous opportunity to salute the players, coaches, owners and people who have represented the Pacers for the past half century as well as to underscore the franchise’s historic role in Indianapolis and Indiana sports,” Pacers President Rick Fuson said in a press release.

The celebrations include the special 50th season patch you see at the top of this post, the logo will be worn on Pacers players jerseys throughout the 2016-17 season. The logo, in the Pacers colours of blue and yellow, features a “50” in blue with the “0” playing off the streaking basketball from their longtime primary logo. Behind the “50” is a state map of Indiana with the team name and years surrounding it inside a circle.

Indiana’s years as an ABA franchise are included in this, the team didn’t join the NBA until the leagues merged in 1976.