Though we’ve already seen some rebranding efforts, such as a major change to the Progressive Field scoreboard, the Cleveland Indians will officially transition to the Cleveland Guardians tomorrow, Nov. 19.
In July the Cleveland front office announced it was moving from the Indians branding and instead embracing the Guardians name, inspired by the helmets and wings of the Hope Memorial Bridge’s Guardian statues near Progressive Field. The move from the Indians branding came over time–slow baby steps to some, a reasonable transition period to others–and started with the removal of Chief Wahoo from team uniforms and merchandise. Before tomorrow’s official transition the team had removed the Indians script from the Progressive Field scoreboard, to be replaced by a red 81-foot-by-28-foot sign Guardians word script.
Some things won’t change: the Guardians will retain the familiar red, white and blue team colors. But the new logos will be more apparent tomorrow, especially when the team website is made over with the new Guardians logos and marks. It’s expected that the Progressive Field team shop will sell Guardians merchandise and souvenirs before the end of the week (if not already), and that location will have an exclusive on Guardians team merch until Nov. 23.
There was a brief snag in the proceedings when the Cleveland Guardians roller-derby team filed a trademark violation complaint in U.S. District Court, but the two sides relatively quickly came to an agreement.
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