Patriots Post Meme in Response to Rumors of New Alternate Logo on Social Media
May 10, 2024
The New England Patriots aren't changing their branding anytime soon despite a former player sharing what appeared to be a new alternate logo last week, according to the franchise's social media team.
The Patriots addressed the logo rumors with a meme posted Friday on X:
The rumors were sparked by a post shared last week by former Patriots linebacker Brandon Spikes:
BrandonSpikes55 @brandonspikes55Felt like old times at <a href="https://twitter.com/Patriots?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@patriots</a> headquarters catching up with my old teammates and my good friend Robert Kraft really appreciate our friendship !!! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PatriotsNation?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PatriotsNation</a><br> ❤️💙❤️💙 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Patriots?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Patriots</a> <a href="https://t.co/9QD1KtHs09">pic.twitter.com/9QD1KtHs09</a>
The fourth photo in Spikes' post appeared to show a new alternate logo featuring the initials N.E. around the team's Flying Elvis symbol.
The logo also spells out the full team name along the edges, alongside a note of when the Patriots were founded in 1960.
As pointed out by Paul Lukas of Uni Watch, Patriots de facto general manager Eliot Wolf also recently made an appearance on the Patriots.com podcast Patriots Unfiltered with the logo in the background:
The Patriots then used the logo on an official post for the first time during the team's Friday morning reveal of the jersey numbers for the 2024 draft class:
There is precedent for social media posts leaking a logo change before the official reveal.
The Los Angeles Rams saw that happen in March 2020, when a fan posted a photo of a hat featuring the Rams' new logo two weeks before the team officially shared it, per Lukas.
According to the New England social media team, that's not the case here. The team will instead stick with the Flying Elvis head, which has served as their primary logo since 1993, per SportsLogos.net.
The Patriots previously used an alternate logo that spelled out "Patriots" with the Flying Elvis atop the "P" between 1993 and 2012, according to SportsLogos.
Fans will have to keep an eye on Patriots' rookie minicamp to see if the new version of the logo makes any further appearances in team practice facilities or on player's uniforms this weekend.
