The National Lacrosse League today announced they were updating their league logo and, for the first time in the league’s nearly 40-year history, introducing a French-language version of their main branding.
The new look carries over the black and silver shield used since the 2016-17 season but updates the typeface used for the league’s NLL acronym. The two shades of silver trim around the shield have swapped places, and all gradients have been converted to a simple solid colour. The four-pointed star, representing the original four NLL franchises and patterned after the Native American Morning Star, remains the focal point of the overall league branding.
Here’s a side-by-side showing the changes:
It is the third logo since the league took on its current name in 1997-98 (previously, the league had been known as the Major Indoor Lacrosse League from 1988 to 1997 and before that, the Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse League from 1986 to 1988)
“The refreshed NLL visual identity aligns with the League’s new strategic vision and centers our brand storytelling around authentic themes that tell our story perfectly,” said Kurt Hunzeker, the NLL’s Executive Vice President of Commercial Operations, in the press release. “The updated brand look and feel not only captures our unique brand of box lacrosse but creates exciting opportunities for the League to break through and position the NLL as a major sports league in North America today.”
Introduced alongside the updated shield is a new French-language version of the primary mark (a simple re-arranging of letters from “NLL” to “LNL”) and a new wordmark logo. The new wordmark updates the typeface used previously and, like the shield, drops the gradients. The new typeface for the wordmark appears to be Rigid Square Bold.
With the new logos came the launch of the league’s new licensing program, NLL Authentics, which will be used to help expand its portfolio of licensed merchandise.
“Centralizing our league and team branding under the NLL Authentics umbrella allows us to streamline merchandising potential, as well as helping our official partners connect with our fans and communities more efficiently,” Hunzeker added in the release.
The National Lacrosse League consists of fifteen teams spread out across the United States and Canada. You can check out all the NLL team logos, past and present, right here.