When you think of a professional sports team, the first thing that probably comes to your mind is the teams' logo. Having a hideous-looking logo is not a good look for your team, so here are 10 sports teams that completely fumbled the bag when designing their logos:
If you're reading this, there's a very high chance you live in the U.S., Canada, or Mexico, so we're gonna stick to North American sports for this list.
Oklahoma City Thunder:
Nearly every single NBA team logo tries to incorporate a basketball in some way, but it just doesn't work with this one. The blue, yellow, and orange color scheme also doesn't seem quite right; looking similar to the Marlins' old logo, but it isn't a good fit for a team called the "Thunder". The Thunder are better off designing their logo similar to that of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Milwaukee Brewers:
In 2018, the Brewers finally acquired a snazzy logo for the first time in franchise history, and they kept it for a grand whole year. But at the turn of the century, the Brewers organization was feeling some nostalgia and decided to change the logo to a previous Brewers' logo used in the 80s.
This logo showing a ball in a glove is so generic it could be the logo for any other MLB team. The lack of beer, brewing, or anything to do with Wisconsin featured in this emblem is more than puzzling.
Minnesota Wild:
There's a lot not to like about the Minnesota Wild's logo. Starting with the colors, dark green and scarlet red don't make a very appealing color scheme. Making the logo a large cat's head isn't an inherently bad idea, but they stuffed way too much content into that cat's noggin. Putting trees, the red skyline, and don't forget the sun onto a small emblem is painful to the eye. There's especially an overpowering amount of dark green on that logo, which is also overwhelming.
Denver Broncos helmet logo from 1962-1965
While the title clearly states the worst current sports logos, exceptions can be made for a logo this awful. I mean, just look at this donkey; it's hideous. The standards for professional sports emblems were much lower 60 years ago, but this logo was ugly even for its time, and it's no wonder it only lasted three years.
Chicago Bears:
Just a boring C. That is a pretty accurate description of the Bears' logo. There are plenty of other boring letter logos in pro sports, but the Bears were best fitted for this list because they blatantly stole their logo from the Cincinnati Reds, who used that same C over 50 years before Chicago did.
It shouldn't be challenging to mess up a single C, especially when you're copying it, but think again because the Bears made the ends of the C of their logo differently sized and disproportionate to each other. It's difficult to notice at first glance, but it becomes more noticeable the more you've seen it. Whether disproptioning the sides of the C was intended or not, the logo looks repulsive nonetheless.
Nashville FC:
It may be hard to believe, but there is actually an N somewhere on that logo, even though it just looks like a bunch of lines from a distance. Apparently, the seemingly random lines next to the N represent sound waves because Nashville is the "Music City".
But if you want to draw soundwaves, maybe drawing actual waves would be a decent start, instead of just blue vertical lines. Let's also not forget that yellow is not a smart choice for a main color for a sports team logo, and only the Pittsburgh Pirates can pull it off; primarily using yellow and not making the logo look hideous.
Calgary Flames:
You can tell that the Calgary Flames desperately wanted to avoid the dull C look that has haunted Chicago fans because the Flames put very little effort and time into making the fire coming out of their C. If you want to make the fire look realistic, detach it from the C. However, the flame attached to the C more closely resembles long fur than an infernal blaze. Also, it's worth mentioning the team's horrendous name; why would you name a hockey team playing in Canada, the "Flames"?
Washington Commanders:
When the Commanders spent a year deciding on the new team name, they made the logo just a standard yellow W during that time. But when the team announced the new name, "Commanders", and new uniforms, I think they just forgot about changing the logo, because it's still a boring W. At least their lame excuses for jerseys do a decent job of covering up that dull logo.
Los Angeles Rams:
In 2020, the Rams made one of the worst jersey and logo changes in sports history. Nike wanted to make it look more modern, but the yellow semi-circle instead resembles a seashell more than a ram. If they wanted the logo to more closely resemble a ram, they needed to scrap the letters, or just slightly revamp the previous logo. Scrutiny for the Rams' new emblem has decreased in the past couple of years, but that doesn't change the hideous look of that logo.
Columbus Blue Jackets:
I can see what they were trying to do with this logo; the Ohio flag on top of a star resembling Columbus being the capital of Ohio. However, most state flags including Ohio's, don't perform well on sports team logos. In addition, the team name "Blue Jacket" refers to sailors in the Navy, though there is not a single pixel on this logo that even somewhat resembles the Navy.