The Miami Dolphins will make a major change to their iconic logo in April, and on Tuesday it became clear that leaks of the new logo that surfaced a week ago are legit.
The Miami Herald reported Tuesday night that a logo that first appeared on sports uniform blogs a week ago is indeed the newest Dolphins logo, which will be formally unveiled on April 25 (the first night of the NFL Draft).
Longtime Dolphins fans may be taken aback by the new logo, as it features a dolphin without the iconic 'M' helmet, as every previously Dolphins logo has included. Indeed, the two-tone (teal and navy blue) dolphin looks somewhat similar to the fish featured on the current Miami Marlins logo.
According to the Herald, the team expects fans to be suspicious of the new logo at first, since people tend not to like change. But the team thinks plenty of people will like the new logo, and will soon buy merchandise that features it.
On March 19, the Twitter account of UniWatch.com (a blog devoted to sports uniforms, logos, and aesthetics) shared a photo of what seemed to be the new logo. A day later, the sports uniform site SportsLogos.net said the logo was indeed legit, citing an unnamed source.
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The Herald provided further confirmation Tuesday, citing multiple sources with the Dolphins. On Wednesday morning, SportsLogos.net discovered that the new logo appears on a page on NFL.com, giving further credence to its authenticity.
NBC 6 has since obtained the logo, seen above.
Miami will retain an aqua-and-orange-centric color scheme with the new logo (with navy blue accents), so the overall look of the team will not change too drastically.
But by removing the helmet (and changing the layout of the dolphin on the logo), the team is definitely trying to signal that it has entered a new era.
Considering the fact that the Dolphins have made the playoffs just once in the last decade, a new era might not be a bad thing.