2016 Creamer Awards: Best and Worst New Logos of the Year – SportsLogos.Net News

2016 Creamer Awards: Best and Worst New Logos of the Year

The 2016 Creamer Awards

Welcome to the 2016 Creamer Awards! Celebrating the very best (and sometimes the worst) in new sports logos from these past twelve months. We’ve worked our way through the hundreds upon hundreds of new logos that made their debut on the sports landscape to narrow it down to the cream (pun?) of the crop.

Here in 2016, for the first time we assembled a “dirty dozen” of sports writers and personalities from across North America to vote and choose the winners. All of these judges are very much into the logo scene, these weren’t just crazy randoms I picked, if I’m going to let you have a say in these awards I’m going to make sure you know your logos! Judges were asked to rank their top three choices in each of the four categories, a first place selection was awarded five points, second got three, and third just one. From there we ranked the top ten based on those scores.

Your 2016 Supreme Court of Logos are Demetrius Bell (SportsLogos.Net, SB Nation), Maury Brown (Forbes, BizBall), Chris Creamer (SportsLogos.Net), Tyler Kepner (New York Times), Paul Lukas (ESPN, Uni Watch), Rob Neyer (Author, previously with ESPN), Jay Onrait (Fox Sports 1), Clark Rasmussen (DetroitHockey.Net, SportsLogos.Net), Ray Ratto (CSN Bay Area), Jesse Spector (Newsday, FanRag, Dealbreaker), Greg Wyshynski (Yahoo Sports’ Puck Daddy Blog), and You — the star ratings you’ve all been voting with counted as a vote in each category. I can’t thank the judges enough for taking time out of their very busy schedules to contribute to the awards this year, I really do truly appreciate it, thanks guys! Check ’em all out on Twitter, each and every one of them is a top-level quality follow. More details on each of the judges can be found at the end of this post.

Also you may have noticed we’ve got a spiffy new logo! A very special thanks to the great Todd Radom for designing the logo for this year’s Creamer Awards.

In order to be eligible for a 2016 Creamer Award a logo must have made its in-game debut during the 2016 calendar year, this means any of the logos which were just unveiled, such as the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, Vegas Golden Knights, or New Orleans Baby Cakes won’t be included. Check back in 2017 to see how they all ended up.

With that out of the away, let’s get to the awards. Starting with the big one…

2016 Creamer Awards
Best Primary Logo

2016 Finalists - Primary Logo

The nominees were the Bethlehem Steel, Dallas Wings, DC United, Florida Panthers, Hartford Yard Goats, Michigan Tech Huskies, Sacramento Kings, Savannah Bananas, Spokane Empire, and Toronto Maple Leafs.

Past Winners: 2015 Milwaukee Admirals, 2014 Amur Khabarovsk, 2013 Creighton Bluejays, 2012 Toronto Blue Jays

And the winner is…

2016 Primary - 1st Place Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League!

Toronto’s modern take on a long-loved classic netted them four first place votes ending up with a total of 24 points (and none of which were from my ballot, so put those “Biased!” protest signs away). The Leafs unveiled their new logo back in February following months of all-over-the-board speculation as to what direction their new look would go in. In the end they went back to the era in which the team saw their greatest on-ice success, the 1940s-1960s ensuring the logo my father grew up watching will be much in the same spirit as the one my son will grow up watching.

Designed by Reebok with hands-on assistance from team president Brendan Shanahan the logo makes reference to the 13 Stanley Cup victories in franchise history with a point on the vein representing each championship.

New Toronto Maple Leafs 2016-2017 Logo Explained

What the judges had to say…

“Sometimes – no, make that OFTEN – simple elegance is better. Or in this case, the best.” – Rob Neyer

Leafs get the nod for updating a classic without ruining it” – Paul Lukas

They finally got it right.” – Jay Onrait

A historic brand with an iconic logo redesign based off the classic from the 1940s-60s. I always preferred the original.” – Maury Brown

Congratulations to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Brendan Shanahan and the front office, as well as the design team at Reebok for developing a look that should last for generations (with a few extra veins in there of course), the extra effort to getting this logo just right earned them both the 2016 Creamer Award for Best Primary Logo. Well done!

Following the Leafs in second place are the Eastern League’s Hartford Yard Goats

2016 Primary - 2nd Place Hartford Yard Goats

When I first heard the name “Hartford Yard Goats” I cringed. Nope. Don’t like it!

But then I saw the logos, and it was there that we saw what power a high-quality design can have, it quite literally changed what was once perceived by many as a terrible mistake into an overwhelming success. The Yard Goats were suddenly the *it* team in Minor League Baseball and they were still months away from even playing their first game.

Designed by Brandiose, the Yard Goats logo quite simply shows a goat chomping down on a baseball bat. That alone is great, but the history behind the style of the wordmark is where I really became a fan. The “Yard Goats” name is based off of an old railroad term, the yard goat is the locomotive which stays in the rail yard shuffling around all the other trains to maintain order… how this was never a recurring character on Thomas the Tank Engine I’ll never know. So the font used in the logo above? It’s that of the old New York, New Haven, Hartford Railroad Company. Yes, I’m a sucker for those little nods to local history.

Judges?

“I like logos that tell a story, and thus I like the Yard Goats logo very much. I imagine a goat, infected by some sort of zombie rage virus that turned its eyes yellow, turning its attention from munching on some cabbage to violently devouring a kindly old blind man who lived on the edge of said yard. All that remained was his walking stick, wedged in the goat’s mouth as a totem.” – Greg Wyshynski

“I lament the passing of the smiling mascot, and why a Connecticut-based goat would be annoyed enough to chew on a stick escapes me. But if you’re going to go angry animal without context, Yard Goats works as well as anything.” – Ray Ratto

Hartford finished with three first place votes and 19 points overall, five points behind the first place Maple Leafs. Congratulations to the Yard Goats and the team at Brandiose for finishing second place in the entire world, not bad!

Filling out the podium is the Bethlehem Steel FC of the USL Pro Division

2016 Primary - 3rd Place Bethlehem Steel FC

Another logo with local history attached to it, the shield, the I-Beam, and the overall name of the team are all an homage to the old Bethlehem Steel Corporation based out of the Pennsylvania town. Bethlehem Steel Corp, founded in 1857, was the United States’ largest shipbuilder and remained in Bethlehem until filing for bankruptcy in the early part of the 21st Century.

Wrapped around the I-Beam is a snake, representing the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer a team which is an affiliate of the Steel, the logo was designed by Philadelphia Union designer Shaun Kreider. Good work Shaun! Congrats on the bronze medal.

“The slithering snake and dark colour scheme are a nice change from the usual realm of boilerplate sports graphics.” – Paul Lukas

“I like everything about this logo. The colourway is well thought out, especially leaning on gold. Scales well.” – Maury Brown

The Steel scored two first place votes and 17 points overall to have it finish in third place in our primary logo of the year category, just barely edging out the Savannah Bananas who finished one point back in 4th place.

Here’s how the rest of the ten nominees finished, ranked by the judges scores, as well as spots 11 through 50 ranked by community user ratings:

2016 Primary Top 50 Logos

There were over 250 new logos eligible for the awards this year, so to crack the top fifty is still quite the accomplishment. Congratulations to all the teams and the designers of the logos listed above.

Some more comments from our judges on logos finishing outside the top three:

DC United: “Something you’d see when a movie has to invent a fascist organization for our heroes to topple, like HYDRA or those evil rollerboys in ‘Prayer of the Rollerboys.’ Which, come to think of it, might make this logo from a Washington, D.C. franchise the most wholly appropriate of 2016.” – Greg Wyshynski

Sacramento Kings: “A perfect marriage of their classic logo with their current colours. They didn’t just go back to the past, they put a modern stamp on a classic design and perfectly bridged the gap from the past to the present. ” – Demetrius Bell

Savannah Bananas:Anthropomorphic food is going to win me over just about every time, and I like everything that’s happening in this logo, including the great team name. I want to see this banana team up with the old Jamestown Jammers logo and fight crime.” – Jesse Spector

The Savannah image is so ridiculous that it works. How does a banana run the bases without legs? Don’t know, don’t care; he’ll worry about that later. Right now, he’s smiling because the pitch must look as big as a cantaloupe.” – Tyler Kepner 

I can’t stand Brandiose’s now-clichéd approach of using a snarling [whatever] for every team, but I find an anthropomorphized banana to be irresistible.” – Paul Lukas

Dallas Wings: “Combining the “Wings” name with Dallas’ iconic Pegasus just makes sense, while using a forward-facing version of the flying horse provides just enough distance from Magnolia Petroleum-inspired landmark.” – Clark Rasmussen

***

Our next category takes a look at the logos which help compliment the primary logo…

2016 Creamer Awards
Best Alternate Logo

2016 Finalists - Alternate Logo

 

The nominees were the Buffalo Bulls, Florida Panthers, Great Lakes Loons, Hartford Yard Goats, Rochester Rhinos, Sacramento Kings, San Jose Sharks, Spokane Empire, Springfield Thunderbirds, and Windy City Bulls.

Past winners: 2015 Utica Comets, 2014 Philadelphia 76ers

And the Creamer goes to…

2016 Alternate - 1st Place Great Lakes Loons

The Great Lakes Loons of the Midwest League for their “Winter Loon” alternate logo!

Great Lakes introduced an entire new logo set just prior to the 2016 season designed by Brandiose. The entire feel of those new logos were meant to evoke the feeling of hanging around the lake at a summer camp, but it was the addition of the “seasonal loons” which led to the winter version seen above which helped the Loons new look turn from solid to award-winning.

“Winters here are brutal—there’s really no way around it,” Loons’ VP of Marketing Chris Mundhenk told us in our profile on the new look back in February. “Even into early spring, April, early May, we get rough weather. So we thought, how can we embrace that as part of our region? We worked with Brandiose on a secondary mark that’s a winter loon that I think is something that I think our fans are going to get excited about.”

Yup, he called it.

There’s also a summer version of this loon featuring the bird wearing a fishing hat complete with lures and hooks which also scored well but not well enough to crack the top ten to make it’s way onto the ballot.

Let’s hear what the judges thought:

The perfect cap for any fictional animal, plus the loon doesn’t look as menacing as it does whimsically diabolical. Maybe it’s because the hat is keeping it warm. Lesson: Non-generic hats on animal mascots are always a safe starting point.” – Ray Ratto

Loons mark is the best logo of any kind in 2016. Imagine that — a mascot character who’s SMILING instead of snarling — stunner. Love the Fudd cap, too. So good!” – Paul Lukas

“I’m always a sucker for an ornithologically correct bird wearing a hat.” – Rob Neyer

Honestly, you could put that Great Lakes Loon hat on 95 percent of the logos in sports and they’d be immediately improved. It’s like the Sriracha of logo hats. It’s a pity, though, that in our P.C. society the designers couldn’t go with their initial instinct, which we assume was a duck in a straight jacket. ” – Greg Wyshynski

Congratulations to the Great Lakes Loons and Brandiose on working together to win the 2016 Creamer Award for Best New Alternate Logo.

Great Lakes finished with four first place votes and 29 total points, placing it four points ahead of the runner-up team the Sacramento Kings.

2016 Alternate - 2nd Place Sacramento Kings

The Kings went for a combination of eras when it came to designing their new primary mark but their new alternate logos were all new and all top quality. The runner-up logo above features a combination of a lion in purple and a basketball in silver which doubles as a robe for this regal royal beast. On top of the lions head is the same crown that we see in the primary logo. Put ’em together and you got yourself a great logo which could easily be upgraded to a primary logo (if it didn’t violate NBA laws).

Sacramento’s new logo package was designed by RARE Design who have been knockin’ ’em out all over the league over the past two years having also been responsible for the new looks of the Charlotte Hornets 2.0, and New Orleans Pelicans.

One of my favs over the last few years. Love the simplistic nature of it. One of the best designs for scaling. Could see it stand out on something as small as a key chain, or as large as a tee or hat. Works across all platforms.” – Maury Brown

Nice integration of the primary logo, while introducing a new (but not forced) animal mascot, with a subtle basketball and a colour scheme unique to the league.” – Tyler Kepner

Any time a logo successful integrates multiple elements seamlessly – like, for example, the classic Milwaukee Brewers ‘mitt’ – it’s going to get a hearty thumbs-up from me. This swirly basketball lion thing works. Adding the crown is a nice touch, because otherwise I might have mistaken it for an Eastern European airline.” – Greg Wyshynski

While this looks a bit derived from the Detroit Pistons’ old alternate logo, I think it does a great job of blending royal iconography in the form of a lion with elements from Sacramento’s primary logo.” – Clark Rasmussen

Sacramento’s new alternate mark topped three ballots and finished with a hearty lead over our third place winner…

2016 Alternate - 3rd Place Florida Panthers

The Florida Panthers and their bridge logo. Sometimes when a team moves away from a look which has been around for nearly 25 years you need a little help getting across to the other side, that’s what the Panthers logo here is for, connects the new overhauled logo package to the original look of the franchise. The idea was to keep the tradition of the leaping cat alive on the side of the helmets, which is pretty much the only place you’ll see logo above today, designed by the boys at Reebok along with the Florida Panthers.

“In designing the new version of the leaping cat logo, we wanted a new cat in the same sort of mould.”, said John Viola, son of Panthers owner Vincent Viola who played a crucial role in the re-design. We chatted with John in Sunrise at the logo unveiling event back in June, “Just take a look at them side-by side because it’s not just new colours. It’s a whole new cat, and we had about 26 different versions just to get it where it looked like our regular cat had grown up… just like the franchise has.”

John also told us the logo will continue to evolve and be used in future applications. I just assumed this meant a future third jersey, which would be quite alright.

What a great logo, the predator cat jumping right at you. They should put that on a jersey. Right? Right? Anyone?” – Jesse Spector

It says something about the strength of Florida’s recent overhaul that this logo was relegated to secondary status and it could’ve easily been a strong primary logo.” – Demetrius Bell

This should have been Florida’s new primary; they didn’t need a change in direction, they just needed some tweaks, and this would have been perfect as a new crest.” – Clark Rasmussen

Florida’s new alternate/old primary logo nabbed three first-place votes, including the fan vote, good enough to finish in third place.

Here’s the rest of the top ten alternate logos in 2016:

2016 Alternate Top Ten Logos

Hartford ends up on the outside looking in again following their second place finish in the primary category, while Rochester’s solid shield logo and the Indoor Football League’s Spokane Empire (designed by Brian Gundell) finish in 5th and 6th, respectively.

***

Our final category (which actually rewards greatness) focuses on those often forgotten but still extremely important logos, leagues and events.

2016 Creamer Awards
Best League or Event Logo

2016 Finalists - League or Event Logo

The nominees are the Appalachian League, the 2016 IIHF World Hockey Championships in Russia, the 2016 MLB All-Star Game in San Diego, the 2016 NBA All-Star Game in Toronto, the 2016 NHL All-Star Game in Nashville, the 2016 NHL Draft in Buffalo, the 2016 NHL Stadium Series in Minnesota, the 2016 NHL Winter Classic in Foxboro, the Premier League of America, and the USL’s Premier Development League.

Past Winners: 2015 NHL Draft in Florida, 2014 NBA All-Star Game in New Orleans

The envelope please…

2016 League Event - 1st Place NHL All Star Game

It required a tie-breaker but the 2016 NHL All-Star Game in Nashville takes the Creamer Award for Best League/Event Logo of the Year in 2016.

This logo is pure Nashville, from the guitar pick in the background, to the typography style and flourishes (which morph into two crossed hockey sticks), even the nod to Tennessee in the three stars on the puck at the bottom.

The 2016 NHL All-Star logo was designed by the Fanbrandz group who had this to say about the inspiration behind their logo, “The abundance of neon signage, flashy guitars and music culture inspired the expressive typography and flourishes that make this identity unique to Nashville. Every detail of the mark, from the guitar inlines down to the three-starred puck, was inspired by the rich culture and history of Nashville and its music scene.”

“A perfect blend of local colours, iconography, font and all wrapped up in a Nashville guitar pick. We’d say ‘YEE-HAW!’ to this were it not completely cliché to do so; instead we’ll simply say that Nashville Hot Chicken is a disgusting trick they play on tourists.” – Greg Wyshynski

It is not easy to include a puck in a logo and make it look good. The NHL managed to make a logo that evoked a guitar pick, with perfect font choices to go along with the design. And when life hands you a gift like the three stars in a circle on the Tennessee flag, go ahead and use it.” – Jesse Spector

I love the guitar pick shape, and how the Tennessee state emblem fits neatly on top of the puck. It’s a little busy, and the NHL logo is just sort of slapped onto the upper left. But major points for creativity and relevance to the state and city.” – Tyler Kepner 

Congratulations to the NHL Creative Department and Fanbrandz on their award winning logo for the 2016 NHL All-Star game.

As we mentioned earlier this category was decided by a tie-breaker, both this and the logo which came in second finished with 33 points, we handed it to the NHL All-Star Game for finishing with more first place votes (5 vs 3). The event logo which came oh so close to winning it all this year…

2016 League Event - 2nd Place NBA All Star Game

The 2016 NBA All-Star Game logo which somehow took the first occasion of it being held in Canada and did NOT include a maple leaf (at least the primary mark didn’t… small victories). That alone should win it some sort of award. Speaking as a no-good Torontonian, it’s not often the city gets to represent itself rather than that of an entire nation in any of the U.S. dominated pro sports leagues, but that’s what we finally get here. The CN Tower, a Toronto landmark is the focal point and also encloses the entire logo, with a basketball shape cleverly added on to the bottom of the Tower’s observation deck and the year hopping a ride up the elevator to get a glimpse of the city.

Stands out in the midst of all the other event logos by showcasing the city’s most famous landmark in a very effective way” – Jay Onrait

“Smartly uses a Toronto landmark to convey all the necessary elements in a strong, crisp, tidy package – NBA logo, event, city, year, host team colours, even a ball. Love how the letters are curved rather than superimposed.” – Tyler Kepner

“‘All Star Toronto’ is decently minimalist, though I might have preferred ‘Nothing Whatsoever To Do With The Maple Leafs.'” – Ray Ratto

Very cool of the NBA to recognize the contributions of the SuperSonics by incorporating the Space Needle on the eighth anniversary of their departure to OKC” – Greg Wyshynski 

Sneaking a basketball design into the underside of the CN Tower deck ties it all together. The Raptors are represented without banging you over the head with it” – Jesse Spector

While each of the other categories was pretty close top-to-bottom, the league/event had the top three finish well ahead of the rest of the pack, coming in third with 24 points and three first place votes is…

2016 League Event - 3rd Place Applachian League

The new league logo of the Single-A Appalachian League, one of several Minor Leagues to get a facelift over the past year-and-a-half. This new logo is such an upgrade over the previous one it almost feels like the entire league has been called up to Double-A.

“The goal was to create something timeless, but built with digital platforms and the varied needs of the 21st century firmly in mind,” said Todd Radom, the designer of the bronze medal winning logo. “The results embrace baseball’s time-honoured visual culture with a verdant palette that celebrates the traditions of baseball, the sport of summer.”

Mr. Radom has since gone on to re-design several other Minor League logos including the Southern League and the recently released Northwest League mark.

The Appalachian League logo evokes the feeling of being in the Appalachian mountain range for which the league is named, to be surrounded by the rolling green hills, the black shadows cast by the never-ending sea of trees, and the view of the setting sun over the hills.

I may never see this logo again, and it probably won’t go on any gear, and that is entirely too bad, because it’s beautiful. The green of both baseball and the Appalachians in summertime, tinged with the secondary color of gold… it just works great. And, yeah, go for it with the “EST. 1911.” That’s relevant. This league has a heritage, and it’s a logo that has enough of a vintage feel to pull that off.” – Jesse Spector

Simple, uncluttered, with a single dignified appalachia in the middle to keep the annoying graphics to a minimum. EST 1911 was a little ostentatious, though.” – Ray Ratto

Whew, this league needed a new logo in the worst way. Almost anything would’ve been an upgrade over what they had before, and they upgraded in stratospheric fashion. Todd Radom went above and beyond with this one.” – Demetrius Bell

The rest of the top ten league/event logos ended up like this:

2016 League Event Top Ten Logos

That’s it for the best in new logos this year, it’s always great to look back and focus on the great that still gets churned out day-after-day in this industry, a round of applause to all of you in sports design who somehow continue to impress us and still have us excited to see what new logos are to come even after how many of these we see each year. You all deserve a hearty pat on the back, go on, give yourself one, nobody’s looking.

Before we move on to take a look at the worst new logos of the year (a feature I may phase out in future years, we’ll see) I’d like to once again recognize our amazing panel of judges who did a phenomenal job picking the winners this year…

Starting with You, yes, you! Not only did your (well… you and your peers) ratings over the past twelve months determine the ten nominees in each category but the logos that finished in the top three from those scores were awarded points the same as any of the other judges. Way to go.

Demetrius Bell who for the last three years has been keeping you up-to-date here at SportsLogos.Net on all logo and uniform matters mostly relating to college, soccer, and basketball. Also writes for SB Nation’s Talking Chop blog. Twitter: @fergoe

Maury Brown is a sportswriter who focuses on the business side of baseball for Forbes. He’s also the owner of BizBall LLC and has a weekly guest spot on Fox Sports Radio in Portland, Oregon. Twitter: @BizBallMaury

Chris Creamer is the founder and editor of SportsLogos.Net and has been doing nothing much else other than looking at logos all day for the past 20 years. His eyes are starting to hurt. Twitter: @sportslogosnet

Tyler Kepner is the national baseball writer for the New York Times who had previously covered the New York Yankees and the Mets. Has also spent time covering the Seattle Mariners for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and Anaheim Angels for the Riverside Press-Enterprise. Twitter: @tylerkepner

Paul Lukas should require no introduction to this audience, but just in case… he’s been a longtime contributor to ESPN and, of course, is the main man behind the legendary Uni Watch blog. Twitter: @UniWatch

Rob Neyer has been a sportswriter for over twenty years who has previously written for ESPN, SB Nation, and Fox Sports. Has authored six (yes, six!) baseball books. Twitter @robneyer

Jay Onrait is one of two anchors on FS1’s “Fox Sports Live with Jay and Dan” (he’s the one who isn’t Dan) and was once Canada’s national treasure as an anchor on TSN’s SportsCentre. The author of two books, “Anchorboy” and “Number Two”, and once called SportsLogos.Net “awesome” on live television. So we think he’s alright! Twitter: @jayonrait

Clark Rasmussen is a longtime contributor right here at SportsLogos.Net and played an extremely important role in the “Great Vegas NHL Nickname Hunt of ’16” posting regular updates to the comprehensive DetroitHockey.Net. Twitter: @detroithockey96

Ray Ratto has spent five impressive decades as a sportswriter in the San Francisco Bay Area, including time with the San Francisco Examiner and San Francisco Chronicle. Since 2010 has been a senior insider for Comcast SportsNet Bay Area. Twitter: @RattoCSN

Jesse Spector is currently a contributor to a number of sites including Newsday, FanRag Sports, Deal Breaker, Lightning Power Play, Yahoo Sports, and The Hardball Times; previously wrote for The Sporting News. Twitter: @jessespector

Greg Wyshynski is editor of Yahoo Sports’ Puck Daddy blog, co-host of the “Marek Vs. Wyshynski” and “Puck Soup” podcasts, author of two books: Glow Pucks and 10-Cent Beer and Take Your Eye Off the Puck. Can be found @wyshynski on Twitter.

And now, we present to you.

The worst logo of 2016

2016 Worst Logo - Minneapolis City SCBut I mean these guys were kinda trying to be the worst. We think. It’s honestly, kinda hard to tell. Either way they seem to be embracing their role as the logo world’s bottom rung. So good on them.

The logo of Minneapolis City SC is “the world’s greatest logo” as they once described it. It features “the abbreviation ‘MPLS’ to represent the city of Minneapolis, literally”, black “because they chose black”, and a shape because “all logos need boundaries”.

Screen Shot 2016-12-22 at 03.23.25

Say what you will about the logo, that was pretty brilliant.

But it didn’t have to be this way, the team had some pretty great alternative and ultimately rejected concepts

Screen Shot 2016-12-22 at 03.26.15

But either you get lost and forgotten with all the quality designs or you can stand out and be the focus of a few paragraphs on an article for being the worst logo of the year. There’s no such thing as bad publicity, right?

Oh, judges, one last request for comments please. What did you think about Minneapolis City SC?

I appreciate creativity, but a logo needs to convey exactly what it represents IMMEDIATELY to be effective. This one just confused the f**k out of me.” – Jay Onrait

“There are 10 letters in this logo, and four of them are printed fully. Why? Who knows? It looks like as the designer was getting ready to send in the logo for approval, Adobe crashed and saved an interstitial version instead. The other logos nominated here are ugly. This one is an assault on the eyeballs, which, given that it’s just white letters on a black pentagon, is impressive in its own horrible way.” – Jesse Spector

When it comes to logos in the American soccer landscape, you’re either hit or miss. This was a miss of monumental standards.” – Demetrius Bell

“My brilliant wife, I think, put it best: ‘What is it?'” – Rob Neyer

Blah. Just bad. Confusing. Droll. Lacks every level of imagination.” – Maury Brown

Wat.  No, seriously, I have no idea what this is supposed to be or what it’s supposed to represent.” – Clark Rasmussen

“Thinking outside the box doesn’t mean not being able to fit your letters inside one. ” – Ray Ratto

Mr. Wyshynski, take us home…

“The Minneapolis City SC logo might be the worst logo in the history of sports, lettering and shapes.  I had to briefly make sure that there wasn’t a problem with my browser because I was sure-as-s**t that this logo didn’t display correctly. Why the abbreviation? I spent five minutes wondering what the hell the Menlo Park Life Sciences had to do with sports. Why are the letters cut off IN AN ABBREVIATION? Why the absence of color? Why is it a pentagon? Why is it an upside down pentagon? Why approve a logo in which the first two columns appear to spell out ‘MC PIS.’ Why, why, why?!?!!?” – Greg Wyshynski

It’s nice to see that in these divisive times we can still all come together and agree on one thing, so in a way the Minneapolis City SC logo is helping society. Thank you MPLS CITY SC for doing your patriotic duty and ultimately saving the world.

With that out of the way, here’s the rest:

2016 Worst Top Ten Logos

Minneapolis took this one in a landslide receiving 7 first place votes and finishing 30 points ahead of the runner-up Canadian Football League. Others to receive a first place vote here are the CFL (2), Dollar General Bowl, Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs, and Toledo United FC.

I sure hope you enjoyed the 2016 Creamer Awards, if you’re feeling extra nostalgic you can take a look through our past awards posts as well: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015.  I’d like to thank you for reading not just this post but posts throughout the entire year, we’d love to have you come back and join us in 2017 for what will be our 20th anniversary, should be lots of fun. Probably some surprises, maybe some prizes, we’ll see where the year takes us.