Brooklyn Nets unveil new logos | Sports News

After last week’s erroneous reports that team co-owner Jay-Z prematurely unveiled what was believed to be the revamped logo of the NBA’s newly-relocated Brooklyn Nets, the team officially and ceremoniously revealed their new colors and updated brand identity early this morning at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.

The new-look Nets will trade in their longstanding red, white and blue colorway for a minimalist black-and-white scheme, and the pair of primary logos both stick to a clean and simple design centered around a basketball image with a large “B” in the middle.

“The Brooklyn Nets logos are another step we’ve made to usher the organization into a new era,” Jay-Z, who holds a two percent stake in the team, said in a statement. The MC played an integral role in designing the new logos but was not present at their unveiling. “The boldness of the designs demonstrate the confidence we have in our new direction. Along with our move to Brooklyn and a state-of-the-art arena, the new colors and logos are examples of our commitment to update and refine all aspects of the team.”

Nets CEO Brett Yormark said the team’s circular logo will be at center court of the Barclays Center.

The Nets are the first NBA team to have a strictly black-and-white color scheme. The San Antonio Spurs have long had a black, white and silver scheme, while the Miami Heat have black and white alternates that they wear periodically in place of their standard red, black, orange and white uniforms.

The team’s move to Brooklyn gives the city its first professional sports franchise since Major League Baseball’s Dodgers left town in 1957, but the Nets’ relocation and construction of the billion-dollar Barclays Center has not been met with all open arms.

The New York Times reports that opponents of the arena are fighting to keep the state from issuing the arena a liquor permit on the grounds that no evidence has been presented showing that arena officials have any plans in place for controlling the hordes of potentially drunk patrons who may come spilling out of the 18,000-seat venue into neighboring communities after games.

“The arena is a monstrocity to begin with, but with a liquor license, there will be drunk guys vomiting and peeing in the street,” Wanda Fleck, a resident of nearby Boerum Hill, told the Times.

While it is unlikely that the state would deny such a lucrative license, concerned residents are asking that officials take the necessary precautions to ensure that their neighborhood remains safe.

“No reasonable person expects that they won’t get it. But there are concerns in the neighborhood [lingering] because of the zoning override by the city,” said Gib Veconi, a Prospect Heights resident and member of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council. “So the developers and the arena operators have to be clear how they will manage it. It’s not a joke. They need to be transparent.”

The Barclays Center is part of a proposed $4.9 billion sports, business and residential complex on Brooklyn’s Atlantic Avenue. The Nets move into their new digs at the start of the 2012-2013 NBA season. Their new uniforms will be unveiled sometime this fall.
 
[Props: ESPN]