new cbs sports logo

CBS Sports Old New Logo

I really need to listen to my inner voices sometimes.

About 3-4 months ago I remember seeing the CBS Sports logo and thinking “Man, that thing is dated!”

Now I come to find out that at the end of November, CBS Sports announced they are unveiling their new logo during Super Bowl 50 (notice “50”, not the roman number for 50 which would be “L”, which in the common vernacular would stand for “loser” — this is my guess as to why the NFL isn’t using the “L”).

It’s good that they are updating the logo. The problem is the new logo sucks.

Drab. Dull. Not a damn sporty thing about it.

Now you may say “it’s a TV logo, they’re going to make it bounce around and spin and look really cool in motion.”

Fine but no. A logo needs to be able to convey the message of what you (your brand, company) do, in and of itself. This new CBS logo could be for a CPA firm or even a dishwasher. The old one at least has a little style and some motion to it. It felt a bit sporty.

Where’s the action? Where’s the excitement in this new CBS Sports logo? It’s SPORTS for goodness sake. Where’s the vibrance? Where’s the motion? The old logo (much as it needed a refresh) had lots of these attributes.

CBS Television Network Logo

But of course the old CBS Sports logo did not posses a classic style to it that would allow it to live forever like, for example, the logo of its mother ship, the CBS Television Network and it’s classic Eye logo and font. This logo will (and should) live forever.

So let’s take a quick peek at how this new sports network for CBS compares to some of the other sports network logos.

Sports Network Logos ESPN, Fox, NBC

When looking at sports networks, you’s have to start with ESPN which has gone from a little cable station in Bristol, Connecticut to a sports giant. How big? Basically, ABC Sports ceased to exist when Disney (which owns ABC) bought ESPN. And this logo needs a refresh. It looks about as 80’s as the old CBS Sports logo.

Fox Sports logo is…meh. Whether it’s Fox Sports, Fox News and the Fox Network, the logo is plain. Not bad, just plain. Such a wide ranging and successful company should have a more impressive network icon. But again, there’s a reason I’m not part of this discussion. 😉

Finally NBC Sports. This is a bit of a mashup. You’ve got the iconic peacock (one of the great logo refreshes/rebirths of the 20th Century), the recently refreshed NBC workmark (which I like very much) and the scripted sports work mark, which is just OK. But of the three logos, probably NBC Sports works the best as a logo.

So there you have it, my take on network sports logos.

The bad news is you can’t get the last five minutes of your life back. 🙂

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