New Orleans Pelicans logos revealed

The news popped up on Thursday, the same day the current Hornets announced they’d become the New Orleans Pelicans following the 2012-13 season.

New Orleans took the Hornets name with them when the franchise relocated from Charlotte in 2002, and a new franchise named the Bobcats hasn’t quite taken the same hold in North Carolina. Team owner Michael Jordan said, according to ESPN, that he hears the large group of fans who ask about a return to the Hornets’ colors schemes and name.

Across the board, people wondered why the project was a thing in the first place. The city had adopted the Hornets as they were, but a new era seemingly made it right.

Now, here is where the debate breaks off. Regardless of what any one person’s understanding of a pelican might be, the logo could perhaps take some heat. That’s fair to criticize.

We’ve known about the name change for a while now, and it’s pretty fantastic news: The New Orleans Hornets will become the New Orleans Pelicans starting next season. Who could possibly be against a professional sports team named the “Pelicans”? In the very serious sports universe, it’s pretty great that people will be forced to have arguments about pelicans.

Anyway, today the dream became a little more real: The team unveiled the colors and logo that the Pelicans will wear next year. So let’s talk about this.

Here’s the moment where the logo was revealed, via Reddit.

The pelican appears to be carrying a basketball in its mouth, which may explain why it looks so displeased. I don’t think leather is the healthiest thing in the world for a bird to be eating.

Ending a long line of rumors regarding the possibility of name change, the Hornets will make an official announcement of the impending move on Thursday, Spears reports. The announcement will also include a new logo, which hasn’t been released yet.

After years of rocking the blue, purple, gold and white team colors, the Pelicans’ team colors will be blue, gold and red, Spears reports.