The Crew update rebranded logo following meeting with supporters

For the second time in eight days, the Columbus Crew have revealed a new logo. Monday evening, the Crew’s ownership group and a selection of supporters met at historic Crew Stadium to discuss the team’s recent controversial rebrand that including a criticized logo and a name change to “Columbus SC”.

After a productive meeting, the two sides released a joint statement Monday night with the front office and Nordecke agreeing to revert the club’s name back to the “Columbus Crew” and adding small modifications to the new logo. This new logo was revealed on Tuesday and, as expected, not much changed.

The badge that was revealed last Monday will still serve as the team’s logo. The only changes made were the triangle inside the Ohio state flag shape changed to a “96,” honoring the founding of the club in 1996 as the first team in Major League Soccer. The other change was the bottom text outside the shape now says “Crew” rather than “SC” in accordance with the official club name going back to “Columbus Crew.”

Courtesy of Columbus Crew

Whether this logo is here to stay for the long haul is yet to be seen with rampant criticism of this badge flooding social media last week. For now though, this will be the logo used on team branding, merchandise and more throughout 2021 with the old circular badge still sewn onto the current kits for the Crew when the team takes the field on game days.

This is the fourth logo in Columbus Crew history. The club’s original crest, released in 1996, was in the traditional shield shape with the three construction workers with their arms cross in the middle. The second crest that was revealed in 2014 was a circle with multiple details nodding the history of Columbus, the Crew and Major League Soccer. And of course, the Black & Gold’s third logo was the same as the current badge with the “SC” and triangle instead of the “Crew” and “96”.

Surprisingly, the third Columbus Crew logo is not the shortest tenured logo in North American sports history at eight days. In 1991, the San Francisco 49ers announced a new logo and helmet design that was a stylized “49ers” text instead of the traditional oval with “SF” inside. The logo was scratched after six days with similar negative reactions from fans and media that was seen last week after the Crew’s rebrand launch.

The Columbus Crew team has lost its last two matches in MLS play with road defeats to Toronto FC and the New England Revolution last week. The Black & Gold will be in New Jersey on Saturday to face New York City FC at Red Bull Arena in an attempt to break this losing streak.