Mercury getting logo facelift entering 30th season

PHOENIX (AP) — One of the WNBA's most recognizable franchises is modernizing its look.

The three-time WNBA champion Phoenix Mercury - who also made a surprise run to the Finals this season - released their new logos for the upcoming season on Monday, continuing an aggressive financial push by team owner Mat Ishbia.

Team president Vince Kozar said it's the right time to give the organization an update as it enters its 30th season in the league. The Mercury debuted in 1997 as one of the WNBA's original eight teams, winning titles in 2007, 2009 and 2014 with a core that was built around 11-time All-Star Diana Taurasi.

The Mercury will still lean on their original color scheme that's mainly purple and orange, but wanted a bigger variety of logos to expand their ability to do advertising and sell merchandise.

"Being sort of a legacy brand was instructive to the process of us developing a rebrand," Kozar said. "We didn't want a huge departure. We wanted fans to be able to see the old mark in the new marks. We wanted a modernization and evolution - not a wholesale rebrand.

"Once we were able to settle on that, we were really comfortable moving forward."

The new logos have several subtle nods to the team's history. The primary logo is the Mercury "M" that's positioned at an angle of 19.97 degrees, which references the inaugural season.

Another logo features the popular "Merc" nickname, which has been used by players and fans for years. Kozar credited Ishbia with being willing to open his wallet for a change that comes with plenty of cost.

"Stuff like this - I'm not quite sure fans quite understand the amount of investment it takes to do something like this," Kozar said. "Not only the brand work, the design work and all the effort we're putting into the announcement, but there's a lot of stuff that has to be swapped out.

"The old logo exists in a lot of places. There's a hard cost to doing things like that, but with Mat, that never seems to be a consideration."

The rebrand comes less than two years after the franchise unveiled a $100 million, 58,000-square foot practice facility that's about a block from the team's arena. It has two full-size courts, a weight room and a team meeting room with theater-style seating.

Most importantly, it's just for the Mercury, who shared their previous practice facility with the NBA's Phoenix Suns. Ishbia - who has owned both teams since early 2023 - has said he hopes the rest of the league will match his investment in women's basketball.

"I don’t want this to be a competitive advantage," Ishbia said back in October during the Finals. "I want everyone else to do the same thing."

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