The Indiana Pacers are a National Basketball Association franchise based in Indianapolis. The team’s visual identity has evolved through several distinct phases since the franchise was founded in 1967, with the current primary mark introduced for the 2017-18 season.
Design and History
The original Pacers logo was unveiled in 1967, the same day the team was named. It featured a hand holding a basketball to form the shape of the letter “P,” with blue and gold colors chosen to mimic the Indiana state flag.[1]
In 1990, the team changed its primary logo, removing the arm from the letter “P” and adding navy blue to the uniform color scheme.[2] The 1990 redesign kept the yellow basketball but surrounded it with three horizontal lines that gave the ball a sense of motion, while returning to a navy blue background and leaving only the “Pacers” nickname in the icon.[3]
In 2005, the logo received a gray border and an updated “Pacers” wordmark, though the core symbol remained intact.[3]
For the 2017-18 season, the Pacers unveiled a brand refresh built around the platform “We Grow Basketball Here.”[4] The team introduced two new logos: a state icon and a seal for basketball in Indiana.[5] The state icon, which serves as a secondary logo, features a yellow streaking basketball inside a modular, stylized blue state of Indiana with a white star at Indianapolis.[6] The team did not replace its two primary logos with this refresh.[6]
The seal logo features a basketball rising over a horizon of dimensional farmland lines, 19 stars representing Indiana as the 19th state, and the year 1894, when the first game of basketball was played in the state.[4]
Meaning and Symbolism
The team’s longtime “P” logo with a yellow basketball in the hole of the letter has become so ingrained that the new state-shaped secondary logo, introduced in 2017, visually reads as a “P” even though Indiana is not shaped like the letter.[7]
The state icon was designed to pay homage to the Pacers representing the entire state of Indiana on the basketball court.[4] The “We Grow Basketball Here” platform and the farmland-inspired striping on the uniforms reflect Indiana’s agricultural heritage and basketball culture.[8]
Typography and Design
The 2017 uniform redesign introduced a new compact typeface that allowed the Pacers to become the only NBA team with their full team name featured on the front of their jerseys, with “Indiana” and “Pacers” encircling the number.[4] The team’s marketing chief noted the design was intended to reinforce that the Pacers are a team of the state and not just Indianapolis.[4]
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