Super Bowl logo color scheme conspiracy holding strong
For a professional sports league that literally launched the 2023-24 season by joking about there being a script, the Super Bowl logo color scheme conspiracy holding strong this late into the season is very on-brand.
The what? Yes, the Super Bowl logo color scheme conspiracy theory. It first made headlines in early November after someone noticed that the past two Super Bowl logos were designed with colors similar to the teams that competed in the big game.
In 2021, the reddish-orange of the Bengals and the yellow hue from the Rams was in the logo. The Rams beat the Bengals in that Super Bowl. Last year it was the Eagles and Chiefs in the big game, with each team's colors represented in the logo that was unveiled long before Super Bowl 57 was ever played.
This year the logo features purple and a shade of red.
The Ravens, one of only two teams that wear purple (the Vikings being the other), have reached the AFC Championship Game after taking down the Houston Texans on Saturday. In the NFC, the 49ers scored late to knock the Packers out of the playoffs and reserve a spot in the conference title game.
Red is worn by the 49ers, Buccaneers, Chiefs and Cardinals. The Cardinals missed the playoffs while the Bucs face the Lions in the Divisional round Sunday and the Chiefs face the Bills in the AFC Divisional round Sunday night.
If the conspiracy theory is true, then there were only four possible Super Bowl outcomes to start with – and two of them are still options.
Vikings vs. Chiefs- 49ers vs. Ravens
Cardinals vs. Ravens- Buccaneers vs. Ravens
What's kind of funny is that when we originally wrote the "Can we talk about the Super Bowl logo color scheme conspiracy?" story the Bucs were 3-5 and looked nothing like a contender. They finished the regular season 9-8 to sneak into the playoffs before crushing the Eagles on Wild Card Weekend.
If the Bucs beat the Lions the team in the Super Bowl from the NFC will fulfill the red color part of the conspiracy, leaving it up to the Ravens in the AFC to complete the theory.
Only the Lions, Bills or Chiefs can crush the theory and considering the NFC and AFC paths to the Super Bowl go through San Francisco and Baltimore, there's a pretty good chance we'll get a version of red vs. purple to support the theory and add drama to the unveiling of next year's Super Bowl logo.
For the record, the color scheme phenomena doesn't hold true with Super Bowl logos before 2021. We checked so you don't have to waste your time.
Dec 25, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens players after the game at Levi's Stadium.
Credit: Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports
