The American Athletic Conference unveiled its new logo and marks today, giving the reinvented conference a new visual identity. The creation of the logo and marks is a part of the ongoing branding of The American, formerly known as the Big East. The new logo features a simple, athletic letter A in red, white and blue, which each institution can customize with its own colors.
“As with the creation of our name, we worked directly with our institutions, sports marketing experts, media partners and design agencies to create and evaluate a variety of logo options,” said Commissioner Mike Aresco. “We took our preferred marks to each institution within our conference for an open forum with school presidents, athletic directors and student athletes to get their input. The elegant, athletic and classic letter A with the unique star inside and AMERICAN underneath was unanimously chosen by every institution. We believe this bold mark and our series of ancillary marks will support our conference name and the values that our name represents. In addition, our partners at ESPN and CBS agree that its strength, simplicity and elegance will resonate well on TV,” concluded Aresco.
The process of creating and choosing a new logo is an important step in the rebranding process for the American Athletic Conference. From the unparalleled realignment of two athletic conferences, to securing multi-platform broadcast exposure with ESPN and CBS, to developing a new name, logo and overall identity, The American has undergone a unique, first-of-its-kind rebranding experience within college athletics.
The American Athletic Conference will assume its new name on July 1, when it will also launch the full version of its website at www.TheAmerican.org. Until then, TheAmerican.org will feature basic information on the Conference and its member schools.
Beginning with the 2014-15 academic year, The American will consist of the University of Central Florida, the University of Cincinnati, the University of Connecticut, East Carolina University, the University of Houston, the University of Memphis, Southern Methodist University, the University of South Florida, Temple University, Tulane University and the University of Tulsa. The U.S. Naval Academy will become a football-only member in 2015.