Super Bowl 50 Logos Revealed, No Roman Numerals For 2016

The National Football League, along with the San Francisco Bay Area’s Super Bowl Committee have revealed two logos for Super Bowl 50 and you are reading correctly, no L for the game that will be held in the Bay Area in 2016.

The logos are pretty sharp, with a black background and gold letters and numbering for the game and date it will take place on.

The first Super Bowl 50 logo (pictured above) was explained by the NFL as follows:

“While continuing to feature the Vince Lombardi Trophy as the centerpiece of the Super Bowl logo, the use of “50” makes a bold statement about the Super Bowl and the historic 50th game. The gold “50” aligns with the preeminence of the Super Bowl, the silver trophy, and reflects the host region’s historic Gold Rush in the broader setting of the Golden State.”

For the second Super Bowl 50 logo, the NFL includes the location — the San Francisco Bay Area — and date, February 7, 2016. It is described like this:

“The logo design builds on the permanent Super Bowl identity established in 2011 for Super Bowl XLV that positions the Lombardi Trophy with the host stadium. The Super Bowl 50 regional logo features the Lombardi Trophy in front of Levi’s Stadium, the new home of the San Francisco 49ers. Reflected in the gold 50 are some of the iconic landmarks of the San Francisco Bay Area ghosted by the fog.”

Regarding the roman numerals, not to worry, following Super Bowl 50, the league will go back to the traditional way of naming the biggest game in American football in 2017, for Super Bowl LI.

The website Ninersnation.com reported last week that the Bay Area Super Bowl Committee was hoping to be rid of the roman numerals for Super Bowl 50 and by the looks of it the NFL agreed to the request.

Super Bowl 50 will be the first, since roman numerals were introduced in 1971, not to use the classic naming style.

As to why the NFL allowed Super Bowl 50 to go without the better known roman numerals, Jamie Weston, the league’s vice president of brand and creative, told ESPN.com:

“When we developed the Super Bowl XL logo, that was the first time we looked at the letter ‘L.’ Up until that point, we had only worked with X’s, V’s and I’s. And, at that moment, that’s when we started to wonder what will happen when we get to 50?”

What do you think of the Super Bowl 50 logos? Do you think roman numerals are confusing?

[Image via NFL]