The team announced Thursday that they have commenced a formal review of their primary logo, formalizing the next step in what has been an ongoing internal discussion.
“We feel it is the right time and the right thing to do, to go through a formal process and formal review of our primary logo,” said Warriors general manager Alan Millar, who emphasized that at this point it’s a review and no decisions have been made. “We feel it’s important, with the great support we have in Moose Jaw from our fans and corporate sponsors, that we engage with leaders in our community and we engage with our stakeholders and our partners to look at the logo and see at this time if we move forward with our current logo or if it’s time for a change.”
The current logo has been used by the team in variations since the 1988-89 season and features a First Nations figure wearing a headdress with a hockey stick headband and puck earhole, with the team name emblazoned along the bottom.
A more stylized version of the team name in all red was added for the 1996-97 season, and a grey gradient added to the name for the 2001-02 campaign. The Warriors’ original logo used from 1984-85 through 1987-88 features an indigenous character riding a skate while carrying a tomahawk and hockey stick.
You can check out that progression right here, courtesy Chris Creamer's SportsLogos.net.
From time to time, the Warriors have faced concerns about the current logo from various parties, but this is the first time in recent history the team has moved to consider a change. The current plan doesn’t come from any specific outside issue.
“This isn’t a knee-jerk reaction to anything, this isn’t about any type of pressure or complaint from anybody, this is something we’re trying to be transparent about and forthcoming on what our thoughts are,” Millar said. “It really comes back to the fact that we respect diversity, we respect inclusion and with some of those things in mind, we feel this is the right thing to do at the right time.”
On that point, the Warrior are plenty aware of the situation currently surrounding professional sports teams and name changes that have happened there. Most recently, the much-maligned Washington Redskins of the NFL dropped their team nickname this season after decades of controversy and are currently temporarily known as the Washington Football Team. And closer to home, the CFL’s Edmonton Eskimos decided to drop their moniker after concerns from northern communities. They, too, are known simply as Football Team for the time being.
“We’ve certainly followed those stories, but this is something we’ve been talking about for a couple of years,” Millar said.
The Warriors haven’t been free from controversy in that area themselves — in 2014, the club created a third jersey using the team’s first logo in celebration of their 30th anniversary. While the jersey and logo were only used for a handful of games the following season, it drew criticism and even prompted Cree singer and Canadian icon Buffy Sainte-Marie to voice her opposition.
“To be honest and fully transparent, I think we look back on that as a mistake,” Millar said. “I think when you look at the history of our primary logo and branding, we’re on our fourth logo, and the first two logos could have been considered culturally insensitive. We’ve moved forward to the current headdress, and we did play a handful of games in 2014 on our 30th anniversary with the original logo. I think we look back in hindsight and question as if it was the right thing to do.”
That situation is something that’s played into their current position.
“At the time we looked at it as tradition and honouring the history of the team,” Millar explained. “But where we are today, that all comes into play to move forward with this formal review and going from there.”
The review is already well underway with the Warriors having met with city leaders, including mayor Fraser Tolmie and city manager Jim Puffalt, and they’ve also been in contact with Tourism Moose Jaw and several other corporate partners.
“We’re going to take our time, this is going to be a thorough process and we’re going to do it right,” Millar said. “We hope to have some more information by February or March to share with our community, our partners and our fan base."
