UNLV Athletic Director Desiree Reed-Francois in 2017. Photo credit: Daniel Clark/LVSportsBiz.com

UNLV Football Jerseys Don’t Show New Logo; Time To Drop New Logo and Create New One For Just-Released Branding Campaign

By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com

 

The UNLV sports department rolled out a new “Be a Rebel” branding campaign last week and you may have noticed one missing element — that “new” logo from last year that didn’t exactly go over well when unveiled in 2017. A Colorado agency created that new UNLV logo, which appears cluttered, without any local input or suggestions.

 

LVSportsBiz.com was told a few days ago the new logo would not be on the UNLV football jersey this upcoming season.

The new logo from last year.

 

And indeed, RJ photographer Chase Stevens’ Twitter photos today of UNLV football players at photo day at Sam Boyd Stadium showed the football jerseys with the old logo HeyReb character of the bushy-mustached cowboy-looking fella on the upper sleeves.

The HeyReb logo remains on the UNLV football jerseys.

 

A spokesman for UNLV athletics, Andy Grossman, explained, “Our uniforms for all of our sports are cyclical and have the old marks because we haven’t had the opportunity for a new design. They are the same uniforms as last year for football.” Grossman also pointed out the new Be A Rebel branding/marketing campaign doesn’t involve the logo. “We will continue to use the arch as our primary logo,” he said.

 

The new logo appears infrequently around Las Vegas. A local Las Vegas TV station uses it for reports on UNLV sports, and LVSportsBiz.com noticed Costco in Summerlin sold ball caps with the new logo.

 

Last year, LVSportsBiz.com reported that Reed-Francois said her department will be “very strategic on how” it will use the new logo and will be “fiscally responsible.”

 

The new logo is on items sold at the UNLV student store.

 

LVSportsBiz.com also had reported last year that the new mark would be gradually phased in.

 

But at this point, LVSportsBiz.com suggests getting rid of the new logo and creating a new one to go with the athletic department’s new Be A Rebel branding campaign. The new logo was too cluttered and it was difficult to immediately decipher the new logo’s elements built into the mark.

 

Logos should be simple, bold and create instant recognition of the brand, but last year’s new logo was zero for three in that department. It’s time to dump it and start from scratch.

 

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Follow LVSportsBiz.com on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Contact LVSportsBiz.com founder/writer Alan Snel at asnel@LVSportsBiz.com

 

 

 

 

Alan Snel

Alan Snel brings decades of sports-business reporting experience to LVSportsBiz.com. Snel covered the business side of sports for the South Florida (Fort Lauderdale) Sun-Sentinel, the Tampa Tribune and Las Vegas Review-Journal. As a city hall beat reporter, Snel also covered stadium deals in Denver and Seattle. In 2000, Snel launched a sport-business website for FoxSports.com called FoxSportsBiz.com. After reporting sports-business for the RJ, Snel wrote hard-hitting stories on the Raiders stadium for the Desert Companion magazine in Las Vegas and The Nevada Independent. Snel is also one of the top bicycle advocates in the country.