American Athletic Conference unveils primary logo

American Athletic Conference unveiled its primary logo. (Courtesy of American Athletic Conference)

The American Athletic Conference unveiled its new primary logo late Wednesday, a blue "A" with a red star in the middle, and its commissioner says he hopes the new logo will bring familiarity and identity to a league that has spent the past several months in transition.

The conference was formerly known as the Big East until last December when the seven Catholic, non-football-playing schools decided to leave and form their own league.

"It's a bold look," AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco said to USA Today. "Obviously this is a media world we live in, and we wanted to make sure we had the kind of mark that would be distinctive and would make an impact when people saw it. We wanted it to be something people would like and remember, but the notion really was to make it as simple as possible but also strong."

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In April, school presidents officially chose American Athletic Conference but until today have not been able to use the symbol that will go on everything from uniforms to football fields to recruiting materials. Thus, the primary symbol for the league will be the blue "A" with red star, though a set of horizontal marks will be available for schools to use with the entire word "American." As Aresco pointed out, Navy, which will join the league as a football-only member in 2015, might not want a singular "A" on its field since its primary rival is Army.