Why the Winterhawks Should Change Their Logo
I was leaving a grocery store not too long ago, when an older fellow stopped me and gave me a thumbs-up regarding the hockey jersey I was sporting. “Nice!” he enthused, “Blackhawks all the way, man! I’m from Mount Prospect myself.”
I knew that Mount Prospect was a city in the vicinity of Chicago, and I knew—of course—that the Blackhawks were the NHL team in the Windy City. So I gave my new buddy the high-five he was looking for and I carried on with my day. I was pretty bummed, though. I was wearing a Portland Winterhawks jersey.
Logos are a big deal for sports franchises from a marketing standpoint, of course. But I would argue they have a larger impact on returning customers (i.e. diehard fans). Sports are infected with tradition, and hockey more so than others. Tradition is the only explanation I have to give my wife when hats, squid, sharks, and other abnormal phenomena end up hurled onto the ice, after all.
[quote align=’left’]While this tradition of wearing the same logo as the Blackhawks has spawned the common misconception that the Winterhawks are a farm team for Chicago … it’s also dragged Portland into the ever-present accusations of racial insensitivity.[/quote]The Winterhawks have worn the Blackhawks’ Indian-head logo for 38 years, ever since the owner/founder of the team Brian C. Shaw bought a set of them cheap from his buddy Tommy Ivan, then-Vice President of the Chicago NHL team. Funny story, the Hawks actually went out onto the ice wearing the Chicago “C” on their shoulders for three seasons before bothering to alter it.
Even if you sit on the side of tradition, there’s no reason the Winterhawks should continue to wear the Blackhawks logo. It was a cost-cutting measure made by an extremely savvy business man that no longer applies to the organization. Shaw also flew in his aunt from California to repair the uniforms for next to nothing. I doubt that cost-cutting method is still a time-honored tradition for the team.
While this tradition of wearing the same logo as the Blackhawks has spawned the common misconception that the Winterhawks are a farm team for Chicago — or are in any way affiliated with them — it’s also dragged Portland into the ever-present accusations of racial insensitivity.
Along with the Cleveland Indians, Washington Redskins, and Atlanta Braves, the Blackhawks/Winterhawks logo seems to categorize “Native people of North America” with other common mascots like “Bears” and “Tigers” and…um, “Hawks.”
I come from Hillsboro, where the local high school mascot is the “Spartan,” so I’ve always been confused as to what group of actual human beings are okay to use as a sports logo and which ones aren’t. It would probably be safer to use none, just for the sake of common sense. Be it Native Americans, the “Fighting Irish,” etc.
Changing the logo would not trample on the Winterhawks tradition too much; hockey fans in Portland may remember that the Portland Rosebuds were the team that played for the Stanley Cup a hundred years ago, and if you enter the Memorial Coliseum at any point this season you’ll find plenty of Portland Buckaroos memorabilia floating around. Heck, the Winterhawks were moved to Portland from Edmonton, where they were the original Oil Kings.
And not only is the organization aware of this, they are making a moderate effort to reduce the number of Indian-head logos in the stands by launching the “Hawk eyes” as new team imagery several years ago. This included some alternate jerseys that look every bit the quintessential Winterhawks.
This is a unique design that paints our team as a twenty-first century hockey franchise, while keeping the sentiment behind our mascot and name intact.
What else do we need? Should we let tradition win out over common sense and good business practice?
