Seattle NHL Brand Discussion

[Cosmic]

Maybe the Seattle NHL owners will eventually realize that they're going to be sharing an arena with any hypothetical Sonics team, and sharing a color scheme wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. 

[CaliforniaGlowin]

1 hour ago, Cosmic said:

Maybe the Seattle NHL owners will eventually realize that they're going to be sharing an arena with any hypothetical Sonics team, and sharing a color scheme wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. 

The LA Kings did it with the Lakers.

[Ridleylash]

3 hours ago, Cosmic said:

Maybe the Seattle NHL owners will eventually realize that they're going to be sharing an arena with any hypothetical Sonics team, and sharing a color scheme wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. 

Indeed, but given how heavily red is being used in their marketing, I can't see them ditching it for green and yellow. They clearly want to push a different identity to the other Seattle franchises, and I don't see them coming to green and yellow. Hell, I don't think that was even an option on the poll they put out, IIRC. The majority of the votes seem to be leaning to green and some other color; I think they'll evade nicking the Sonics' colors to build their own brand. 

 

1 hour ago, CaliforniaGlowin said:

The LA Kings did it with the Lakers.

That also stopped by the late 80's, and the Kings have abandoned that color scheme since for a more individualized scheme. Plus the Kings came after the Lakers had joined the NBA. The Seattle ownership group probably wants to evade stepping on toes if possible, and nicking the Sonics' color scheme before the team can come back is a great way to cause some displeasure. I'm sure they've considered it, but the headache is worth less then the gain in my opinion.

 

Better for the NHL team to build it's own identity and be pre-prepared for when the NBA inevitably returns to Seattle (because let's face it, once KeyArena's renovations are done, the NBA WILL go back to Seattle) over nicking the Sonics' colors and hoping for the best.

[Cosmic]

6 hours ago, DastardlyRidleylash said:

Indeed, but given how heavily red is being used in their marketing, I can't see them ditching it for green and yellow. They clearly want to push a different identity to the other Seattle franchises, and I don't see them coming to green and yellow. Hell, I don't think that was even an option on the poll they put out, IIRC. The majority of the votes seem to be leaning to green and some other color; I think they'll evade nicking the Sonics' colors to build their own brand. 

Red wasn't an option in the poll, either. I personally wouldn't think it was stepping on the Sonics' toes to take green/yellow, but I can see how it might rub people the wrong way. It'd be a bigger slight, IMO, to make everything in the arena red and baby blue so it never really feels like the Sonics' home. Hopefully, they at least do green primary with some other secondary color.

[SportsLogos.Net News]

Seattle NHL Team Polls Fans on Potential Names, Colours

May 26, 2019 - 15:50 PM

Seattle’s new NHL hockey club is more than two years away from playing their first game; their expansion season isn’t set to begin until fall 2021. With no logo, uniform, colours, or even a name, the organization has been working […]

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[Ridleylash]

6 hours ago, Cosmic said:

Red wasn't an option in the poll, either. I personally wouldn't think it was stepping on the Sonics' toes to take green/yellow, but I can see how it might rub people the wrong way. It'd be a bigger slight, IMO, to make everything in the arena red and baby blue so it never really feels like the Sonics' home. Hopefully, they at least do green primary with some other secondary color.

It wasn't, but "Green+some other color" was the leading choice of the fan poll, so we know green is at least going to be involved in some form. I can't see them going green+yellow just for the Sonics, because they want to be distinct; and red is a large part of their marketing, so I have to think they'll use it in some form. Green+red to homage the Metropolitans while doing their own thing is honestly a pretty likely option, maybe with a blue in there somewhere.

[Prince Harry]

Deep red and kelly green should be the colours. 

[hawk36]

17 hours ago, Cosmic said:

Maybe the Seattle NHL owners will eventually realize that they're going to be sharing an arena with any hypothetical Sonics team, and sharing a color scheme wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. 

I'd usually agree but given modern technology in arenas, I think as long as they make the seats a neutral, colors in the environment can change with a flick of a switch. Not as big a deal as it used to be. 

[kroywen]

At the risk of going all Phantom Dreamer on you guys, if you want a color scheme that's historically relevant to Seattle sports, but isn't used by any Seattle teams currently or by any prospective rivals:

 

 

I love the idea of green and some other color, but this color scheme would work quite well for a Seattle NHL team, while allowing them to completely 'own' those colors.

[M4One]

21 hours ago, Cosmic said:

Maybe the Seattle NHL owners will eventually realize that they're going to be sharing an arena with any hypothetical Sonics team, and sharing a color scheme wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. 

 

It's not the worst thing, but neither would having a colour scheme unique to them.  There are a few teams that share a building, but don't share a colour scheme.  Having their own colour scheme allows the them to stand out.  That being said, I think they will end up going with green and red, so not too different from the Sonics.

[Ridleylash]

1 minute ago, M4One said:

 

It's not the worst thing, but neither would having a colour scheme unique to them.  There are a few teams that share a building, but don't a colour scheme.  Having their own colour scheme allows the them to stand out.  That being said, I think they will end up going with green and red, so not too different from the Sonics.

Though the Sonics were traditionally green and yellow without the red, and those were the team's colors when they got ripped away to Oklahoma City to become the most maligned NBA franchise ever. I think Seattle sticks with green and yellow for the NBA and the NHL team will choose green as well for a unity aspect while taking on the red.

[Chromatic]

I just don't understand how anyone in Seattle could possibly consider taking green and yellow "stealing" the hypothetical new Sonics colours. It doesn't work like that, its not like the sonics aren't allowed to wear them if the NHL team is. If anything it makes more sense considering they're sharing an arena and city. Why doesn't that logic apply to taking the Seahawks, Mariners, Thunderbirds, etc colours?

[SFGiants58]

1 hour ago, kroywen said:

At the risk of going all Phantom Dreamer on you guys, if you want a color scheme that's historically relevant to Seattle sports, but isn't used by any Seattle teams currently or by any prospective rivals:

 

 

I love the idea of green and some other color, but this color scheme would work quite well for a Seattle NHL team, while allowing them to completely 'own' those colors.

 

Royal/yellow/powder could be a fantastic design for Seattle.

 

 

It would set them apart from the Blues and Sabres pretty effectively, especially with a light blue primary sweater.

[Ridleylash]

6 minutes ago, Chromatic said:

I just don't understand how anyone in Seattle could possibly consider taking green and yellow "stealing" the hypothetical new Sonics colours. It doesn't work like that, its not like the sonics aren't allowed to wear them if the NHL team is. If anything it makes more sense considering they're sharing an arena and city. Why doesn't that logic apply to taking the Seahawks, Mariners, Thunderbirds, etc colours?

I imagine part of it's still them trying to cope with having the Sonics get unceremoniously ripped away from them by owners who only bought the team to move it to OKC.

 

Plus, I'd rather the NHL team try to forge their own branding identity and color scheme over using the colors of another team from the city. That only works when there's a real reason for all of the teams to have a unified color scheme, like Pittsburgh does.

[IceCap]

The Wild sadly took what I could consider the ideal Seattle NHL colour scheme. 

 

Any variation of green and blue would be very Canucks, so I don’t see that as ideal. 

 

So I would say either go with a Milwaukee Bucks-esque “Irish rainbow” scheme or go with the site’s colour scheme of red, a soft foam green, and black. 

[Ridleylash]

2 minutes ago, Ice_Cap said:

The Wild sadly took what I could consider the ideal Seattle NHL colour scheme. 

 

Any variation of green and blue would be very Canucks, so I don’t see that as ideal. 

 

So I would say either go with a Milwaukee Bucks-esque “Irish rainbow” scheme or go with the site’s colour scheme of red, a soft foam green, and black. 

Eh, don't think the Bucks' colors work too good for Seattle, either, too plain; but I think the site's red/foam green/black combo could look nice, sort of a spin on the old Metropolitans color scheme as a homage while still being unique in the league.

[GDAWG]

If the Sonics return to the NBA, there's going to be no shortage of cities vying to be "number 32."  

[M4One]

13 minutes ago, GDAWG said:

If the Sonics return to the NBA, there's going to be no shortage of cities vying to be "number 32."  

 

And when Vancouver joins Seattle in their glorious returns to the NBA, the Memphis Grizzlies must drop the name and return all that history to the Vancouver Grizzlies.  It is the proper thing to do.  Then, Memphis can officially change their name to the Memphis Express.  

[Dynasty]

No red and black, in any form. That's a really overused color scheme, especially in this league.

[hawk36]

1 hour ago, Chromatic said:

I just don't understand how anyone in Seattle could possibly consider taking green and yellow "stealing" the hypothetical new Sonics colours. It doesn't work like that, its not like the sonics aren't allowed to wear them if the NHL team is. If anything it makes more sense considering they're sharing an arena and city. Why doesn't that logic apply to taking the Seahawks, Mariners, Thunderbirds, etc colours?

I don't think anyone thinks it's stealing. It just for whatever reason the NHL team ownership said they wanted to stay away from the Sonics' colors. It's their choice not the fans/city if that makes sense.