The Clippers will have a new look when they move into the Intuit Dome next season, the team announced Monday morning.
The franchise unveiled a new logo and uniforms, along with a redesigned court that will help establish a fresh identity after 40 years in Los Angeles.
The rebranding comes after outside consultants were hired to conduct fan surveys, according to Zach Lowe of ESPN. Team officials considered everything, including a possible name change, but that didn’t poll well, with sources describing the reaction to Lowe as “outright hostility.”
“The focus groups are advisory, not definitive,” owner Steve Ballmer said. “But I still listen to them, and I have heard, partially to my surprise, that there is no interest in a name change. I had thought about [the name] years ago, before I got the team, but we heard similar reactions back then.”
The Clippers will replace their current logo, which has been described as bland, with a large “C” that has a ship inside it, a nod to the clipper ships of San Diego that inspired the team’s name when it moved to that city in 1978.
The global version of the logo contains the words “Los Angeles Clippers” surrounding the ship in a circle.
The court display released by the team features the logo in the center with “Intuit Dome” printed in blue on both sides of it. The N in “Angeles” extends through the center-court stripe to create a compass effect.
The painted area is dark blue, with red semicircles above the foul line, and longitude and latitude coordinates for the new building are listed along the sidelines. Other home court designs will be released later, sources tell Lowe.
The Clippers also unveiled white and blue versions of their new uniforms, which feature the logo on the shorts and a new font for the team name.
A red statement edition has “Los Angeles” on the front and “Clips” on the waistband of the shorts. Three nautical flags line the sides of the red jersey.
The team won’t have a black version of its jersey next season, with Gillian Zucker, president of business operations for the Clippers and Intuit Dome, telling Lowe, “We kept hearing from people that black was overdone.”
The Clippers are also excited about their new secondary logos, one of which is a version of “LA” with a smaller A perched on the bottom line of a larger L.
“It will make for a phenomenal hat,” Zucker said. “In 20 years, people will look back and this will be iconic for the Clippers.”
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