The Saskatchewan Roughriders may have recently trademarked a new logo, but don’t expect the team to be using it any time soon.
After images of a new logo filed with the federal government’s intellectual property database made the rounds on social media on Wednesday, Riders’ president and CEO Craig Reynolds told the Regina media that there will be no major changes to the team’s brand in the near future.
“We love our logo. We love the current ‘S’ logo. In fact, I love the retro ‘S’ logo as well and I know many many others do,” Reynolds said during a press conference detailing the postponement of this weekend’s game due to COVID.
“There’s no intention of changing our logo, but we had a logo designed and we wanted to protect some intellectual property there. We were in the process of filing a trademark but it by no means is an expression of any feeling towards our current ‘S’ logo.”
Fans had a visceral reaction to the uncovered trademark, understandable given that the Riders have one of the most recognizable logos in Canadian sports.
The team last changed their logo in 2016 when they subtly restyled the ‘S’ and eliminated the colour grey, but the primary logo hasn’t undergone a major overhaul since 1985 when its vintage circular logo was replaced. This logo is still worn annually in the Labour Day Classic as part of the club’s alternate throwback uniforms.
The new logo, which was trademarked on July 14, is circular in shape with a stylized ‘S’ in the centre. The letter includes two different colours separated by what appears to be a stalk of wheat, while the ring surrounding it reads ‘Saskatchewan Roughriders.’
While it won’t be replacing the team’s iconic primary logo, the Riders do have plans for the fresh design somewhere down the line. How large of a role it plays remains to be seen but the trademark application need not be a cause for concern for fans.
“It’s probably a little premature to talk about right now but we do this often,” he explained. “Honestly, we trademark certain things just in case down the road we want we want to use use them.”
