Florida Marlins ballpark groundbreaking logo

[CubsFanBudMan]

Found this photo interesting from the Marlins ballpark groundbreaking ceremony over the weekend:

It's basically a recoloring of the current logo in orange and black. Team president David Samson said on the radio a while back that those were the team colors... couldn't find the thread. (I think it was in the MLB 2009 monster.) They certainly have raised the profile of orange since they took over in 2003, the low point being that sun logo. This year it seems to be the focus of their marketing/website.

The rest of the gallery shows some mockups of the new stadium. Seats are rendered as blue:

Marlins ballpark photo gallery

They've used blue and orange throwbacks in the past, but it really looks like when they move in, they'll be going with orange and black. Hope they find a way to stand out from the Giants and Orioles. Maybe that teal that seems to be hanging around in the background of that logo above will remain in some capacity.

EDIT: The other noteworthy photo is this:

In it there are two teal Marlins caps worn by fans visible. That's a low percentage from what I used to see at games, but still impressive since I'm not sure they even sell them anymore. I think the fans want teal.

[BBTV]

IIRC, they stated numerous times that when they get the new ballpark, in addition to renaming to Miami, they are going to emphasise orange over teal. Guess this pretty much confirms it. Shame, for two reasons - first, orange and teal work really well together. Second, the wordmark should be orange with black outline, instead of this way, which is the same scheme as the Giants.

[BroadwayBlueshirt]

Sigh. One step forward, two steps back.

[Arts11]

IIRC, they stated numerous times that when they get the new ballpark, in addition to renaming to Miami, they are going to emphasise orange over teal. Guess this pretty much confirms it. Shame, for two reasons - first, orange and teal work really well together. Second, the wordmark should be orange with black outline, instead of this way, which is the same scheme as the Giants.

That's what I was thinking too when I first saw the logo. Probably not a good thing when your colors/logo reminds people of another team first. At least the teal/orange was unique in the MLB.

[fishheatcats]

Found this photo interesting from the Marlins ballpark groundbreaking ceremony over the weekend:

It's basically a recoloring of the current logo in orange and black. Team president David Samson said on the radio a while back that those were the team colors... couldn't find the thread. (I think it was in the MLB 2009 monster.) They certainly have raised the profile of orange since they took over in 2003, the low point being that sun logo. This year it seems to be the focus of their marketing/website.

The rest of the gallery shows some mockups of the new stadium. Seats are rendered as blue:

Marlins ballpark photo gallery

They've used blue and orange throwbacks in the past, but it really looks like when they move in, they'll be going with orange and black. Hope they find a way to stand out from the Giants and Orioles. Maybe that teal that seems to be hanging around in the background of that logo above will remain in some capacity.

EDIT: The other noteworthy photo is this:

In it there are two teal Marlins caps worn by fans visible. That's a low percentage from what I used to see at games, but still impressive since I'm not sure they even sell them anymore. I think the fans want teal.

Some inside info:

That groundbreaking logo was done simply for this event, the recolored Marlins script is nothing official. However, Jeffrey Loria's favorite color is orange, and he isn't too fond of teal, so you can bet orange will be more prominent when the name change occurs. That photo of the fans is noteworthy though, as the only orange I saw on anyone was on the staff shirts. The fans were almost entirely decked out in teal and black. Most fans I've talked to do prefer the teal.

And it is a unique color scheme. I would think in a market with teams in each of the "big 4", plus a huge college football program in UM(with plenty of FSU and UF fans too), you'd want to differentiate yourselves. Going with orange is moving into Dolphins/Canes territory, and orange/blue is instantly identifiable as Gators colors.

Plus, considering a marlin is actually silver and teal/blue with a hint of black, using orange makes zero sense in the first place. As of now, and since 1993, the only orange in the team's identity is the laces on the ball in the primary(which is now sparingly used due to the word "Florida", same goes for the 'F' logo).

My advice to any Marlins fans out there, or any fans of good sports logos and want to pose as Marlins fans, who don't want orange, send your letters and e-mails to the team. Without a fan uprising orange will be front and center.

FYI, as a fan since 1993, and a team employee in the creative services department since February(mainly the reason for my absence from these forums for awhile), the orange bugs me to no end. But what am I gonna do, go up to the owner and say "orange sucks!" lol? Gotta get the fans to make some noise and keep the teal.

That being said, I'm so happy about the new ballpark and that the team will be here long term that they could change the colors to brown and pink for all I care, but if we can keep the teal/black I love so much, even better.

[BallWonk]

I can live with a team being less literal in the use of the natural colors of its mascot. Bear cubs are brown or black in most cases, but I don't mind the Cubs wearing blue and red. So if the Marlins want to ditch a mainly black, silver, and teal color scheme that actually looks like a marlin in favor of orange, which is the color of humuhumunukunukuapua'as and clownfish, not marlins, fine by me.

But if the Marlins do this, they must put the orange front-and-center as the team's primary color. They can succeed, aesthetically and from a branding point of view, as an orange-and-black team. They cannot succeed as a black-and-orange team. As has been pointed out, we already have prominent black-and-orange teams. This means, at a minimum, orange caps and orange script and numbers. If Loria and his execs aren't willing to go all the way, they really shouldn't start down the orange road at all.

[-kj]

...they really shouldn't start down the orange road at all.

I think that's the nugget of truth in all of that. Keep the teal and black. It looks great. (Well, looked, since now it seems like it's all black)

[Bmac]

I don't like them replacing teal with orange. We already have the Giants and Orioles, why can't the Marlins keep their unique color?

[fishheatcats]

I can live with a team being less literal in the use of the natural colors of its mascot. Bear cubs are brown or black in most cases, but I don't mind the Cubs wearing blue and red. So if the Marlins want to ditch a mainly black, silver, and teal color scheme that actually looks like a marlin in favor of orange, which is the color of humuhumunukunukuapua'as and clownfish, not marlins, fine by me.

But if the Marlins do this, they must put the orange front-and-center as the team's primary color. They can succeed, aesthetically and from a branding point of view, as an orange-and-black team. They cannot succeed as a black-and-orange team. As has been pointed out, we already have prominent black-and-orange teams. This means, at a minimum, orange caps and orange script and numbers. If Loria and his execs aren't willing to go all the way, they really shouldn't start down the orange road at all.

Precisely, and have you pictured what all orange caps would look like? Ewwwww... I can't see orange uniforms happening, so any combo I can envision will scream either Orioles or Giants. I just can't comprehend any scheme involving marlins and orange that will look good. Sometimes, you can stray away from the literal mascot colors(Cubs, the old green/blue D-Rays set), but here I'm not sure it will come out looking very good with teal either as a secondary or tertiary color, or not at all. Plus teal and black just looks so damned good!

Now teal/orange in equal parts certainly fits Miami, but it's been entrenched for so long as the Dolphins colors(I can only think of one other pro team that uses them, the LA Riptide LAX team). It will just look wrong if you ask me. It's a little late at this point to try to unify our teams' colors like Pittsburgh has. I think the teal is enough to tie in with the Dolphins.

I'm hoping for a worst-case scenario being a heavy orange look for a few years then reverting back to the teal and black(preferably the '97-2002 look, with teal being a bit more prominent).

[CubsFanBudMan]

Precisely, and have you pictured what all orange caps would look like? Ewwwww...

The Marlins had an orange cap giveaway within the past couple of years. The only evidence a Google search turned up was this picture (I swear):

[Brave-Bird 08]

ehhhh, why trash a unique color scheme for one that exists with two MLB teams already??

why doo I feel like sometimes the CCSLC'ers need to be running the sports brand business?

[elliott]

After seeing them in black jerseys with gray pants on the road, I've decided that I think the Marlins look fantastic with this as the road alternate. It's a pretty good looking jersey with the wordmark really standing out, and it looks good with the black hat. BUT I think that black should only be reserved for the road alt. I want to see them in...

-home-teal hat, teal based white jersey

-away-black hat, teal based gray jersey

-home alt-black or teal hat, teal jersey with white or gray numbers

-away alt-exact same as currently: black jersey with black hat

That would be a good combo of black and teal, it would be recognizable, and it would be unique to the league. Right now all the black on home/away is pretty "meh".

[TBGKon]

I agree the Marlins need to use teal, but how about darkening the teal slightly. Their original teal was all 90's, a darker teal like the Jacksonville Jaguars would be worth a shot.

[BBTV]

ehhhh, why trash a unique color scheme for one that exists with two MLB teams already??

why doo I feel like sometimes the CCSLC'ers need to be running the sports brand business?

Why, so everything would look like it did in 1954?

[BallWonk]

ehhhh, why trash a unique color scheme for one that exists with two MLB teams already??

why doo I feel like sometimes the CCSLC'ers need to be running the sports brand business?

Why, so everything would look like it did in 1954?

No, that's Bud Selig who wants everything to look like it did in 1954. We here at CCSLC want everything to look like it did in 1984. Morning in America, baby!

[The_Admiral]

I think the Sharks' shade of teal would be a good upgrade for the Marlins. Orange and black just doesn't look right for them. Anything black looks wrong for Miami baseball. IT'S HOT THERE

[STL FANATIC]

Orange and Black is a step forward from Silver and Black.

It'd be really nice to see the teal maintain a role, too, however.

[JayJaxon]

Adding some orange wouldn't hurt the set, but I wouldn't want them to get rid of teal all together. I agree that a darker shade will work better. Then they can use some black and orange, and still have a unique MLB color scheme without looking too much like the Dolphins.

[zmspartans]

I looked at the pics of the stadium and it looks really nice. The rectractable roof will help a ton since so many of their games are postponed due to rain. But my question, how are they going to afford this? The stadium is always empty when i watch a game. This would mean low revenue.

[The_Admiral]

It's not the Marlins' to afford. Hope you like 10,000 people watching bad baseball, Miami taxpayers!