Logo Links: Bills Unis, NHL Alignment, ECHL, NBA

Goooood Monday morning everyone, here’s the this-and-that in the world of sports logos, etc.

One of the worst kept secrets was unveiled on Friday as the Buffalo Bills showed off their new-old uniform design, as predicted waaaay back in February it’s a white helmet with the current logo, royal blue uniform just like in the ’70s. A vast improvement over the previous look which was in place for the past nine years and also marks the end of the red-helmet era in Buffalo which had been in use nearly 30 years.

In the NHL, with the relocation of Atlanta to Winnipeg the league has a bit of an alignment issue with their conferences and divisions, heading into the 2011-12 season the Winnipeg Jets, one of the northernmost teams in the league, will be playing in the Southeast Division (map of current alignment) among the likes of Florida and Tampa Bay. Just a one-season issue says the NHL as they are apparently discussing plans to do some serious re-alignment for 2012-13, the big idea on the table sees 4 divisions with 7-8 teams per division. I really hope the league goes with this plan and adjusts the playoff structure to return to a divisional format – 1 v 4, 2 v 3 and winners meet. With a league so focused on creating rivalries they took away the best way to create a rivalry – frequent playoff matchups between the same teams. Regular season games hardly ever create a real rivalry. Fix it!

Anyone remember the Trenton Titans? They used to play in the ECHL? Became the Trenton Devils? Anyways, out of nowhere the ECHL registered the Trenton Titans name again on June 21, 2011 – no logo in the registration but it was described as such, “The mark consists of a hockey player wearing a helmet and carrying a hockey stick leaping over a bridge over the words “TRENTON” and “TITANS”.”

Either the ECHL is getting in the business of selling retro merchandise or the Devils are becoming the Titans once again!

I mentioned the Las Vegas Nevadans was a registered new pro hockey team name with the USPTO last week, I’m still not too sure if they’re a re-named ECHL Las Vegas Wranglers or a new team in a new league but they’ve now registered their logo and, well, judge for yourself:

I’m going to wager (see what I did there?) that this will be part of a new league that may or may not ever drop a puck or crown a champion – just a hunch.

Versus (the sports channel that’s not ESPN) is expected to have a new name in place by January 1 – all sources point to them using NBC Sports in their name somehow.

MetLife is in serious talks to re-name New Meadowlands Stadium as MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, the stadium not only is the home to both the New York Giants and New York Jets but will also host Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014, the first northern outdoor Super Bowl ever (snowstorm please!)

There are ongoing talks about having a group of NBA players tour China in July or August should the league lock-out its players – the current agreement between the players and owners expires on June 30th. In other words there’s a good chance there’s no football and no basketball this fall. Your time to shine NHL.