The Calgary Roughnecks are a professional box lacrosse team based in Calgary, Alberta, competing in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The franchise was awarded to Calgary in 2001 and has played at the Scotiabank Saddledome since its debut season.[1]
Design and History
The Roughnecks’ primary logo has centered on a depiction of a roughneck, a term for an oilfield worker, a fitting reference to Calgary’s energy industry heritage. The original mark, introduced with the team’s founding, featured a muscle-bound roughneck clutching a lacrosse stick.[2] A trademark filing describes the design as the wording “ROUGHNECKS” with “CALGARY” below the letters “ECKS,” and above the literal element, a lacrosse player wearing a helmet and holding a lacrosse stick with a ball in the net.[3]
Heading into the 2017-18 season, the club unveiled a new look that included revisions to the Roughnecks logo following the removal of some shading and colour.[4]
A more significant rebrand arrived for the 2021-22 season. Announced alongside a new partnership with WestJet, the team introduced a brand new colour scheme and an updated logo. The new jerseys featured a black, white, and grey design with a pared-back logo keeping the Calgary roughneck as the central element.[5] The redesign removed red from the primary colour set entirely, shifting the team’s identity from its earlier red, black, and white palette to a monochrome look.[6]
In April 2025, the Roughnecks announced new jerseys for the 2025-26 NLL season that re-introduced red as an accent colour. The new home jersey is mainly black with red stripes across the chest and around the waist. The primary logo’s colouring, however, was not changed from the version introduced in 2021.[7]
Meaning and Symbolism
The team’s name and mascot imagery draw directly from Calgary’s oilpatch culture. The franchise’s former mascot was Derrick, an oilpatch rigger, and the team is affectionately known by fans as the Riggers.[8] The roughneck figure in the logo reflects this connection to the region’s energy industry, while the lacrosse stick in the design ties the mark to the sport itself.[3]
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