From 1998 to 2014, the national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision was determined during the BCS National Championship Game. After it was held for the last time in 2014, the College Football Playoff tournament was established for the same purpose.
Almost each year, the BCS Championship Game logo was reinvented from scratch. Typically, it adopted a couple of visual elements from the logo of its sponsor. The symbolism of the cities where the tournament was held also affected the emblem.
BCS Championship Game was defunct in 2014, 15 years after the first tournament of the bowl was held in Sun Devil Stadium, in Tempe, Arizona. This bowl game was a successor of Bowl Alliance and Bowl Coalition, two championships, operating in the United States in the 1990s.
As for the successors of the BCS Championship Game, it was the College Football Playoff National Championship, a post-season football bowl game, which was founded in 2014, and still has its games held under the first division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association flag.
What is BCS Championship Game?
BCS Championship Game is the name of a defunct post-season football game, which took part in the United States from 1999 to 2014. The bowl game was affiliated with the first division of the football subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
The very first logo for BCS Championship was created in 2007, and featured the Tostitos logo replacing the crown of the crest. It was a yellow and red crest with the solid black banner on the bottom part. The two-leveled lettering in white and yellow was set on the black background, underlined by a thin gray ribbon with the black “Arizona 2007” on it. The upper part of the logo featured a yellow and red ray pattern and a brown drawing of the mountains, where the bold white “BCS” abbreviation written over it.
The redesign of 2009 completely changed the color palette and composition of the logo. Now the crest was executed in solid bright blue color, with orange and white details. The upper part of the logo was now taken by the FedEx logo enclosed into a rectangular frame, placed above the white and orange sans-serif lettering, underlined by a stylized image of a rugby ball with the 2009 datemark on it. The white ribbon with the lettering was accompanied by two green palms from the sides. The Arizona ribbon was replaced by an orange arched “South Florida” wordmark.
The sponsor was changed to Citi Bank and the color palette — to blue and red in 2010. The two green palms were low replaced by two posh red roses, and the thin orange “South Florida” by bold white “Pasadena 2010”, set in two levels on a solid blue background under the arched red ribbon with the white narrowed “National Championship” written on it. The rugby ball moved to the top part of the crest, and the Citi logo was drawn over it in the corporate style and palette.
The championship moved to Arizona again in 2011, and the Tostitos logo came back to the badge in the same year. Yellow was used for the bottom part of the crest, while it’s top part was now colored in carbon gray. The “BCS” abbreviation was enlarged and now was written in a bold square serif font, in calm red color with the thin white outline .there were no palms or roses on this badge, and the only additional element was set between the digits in the “2011” datemark — a stylized sun in red white and yellow.
For the 2012 season the championship moved to New Orleans, and the badge changed its color palette to blue and red. The new sponsor appeared, and it was Allstate, and its white logotype was written over the top part of the crest, above the red square with the gradient “BCS” inscription in extra-bold serif font. The Aztec sun from the previous badge was replaced by a classy image of the cup in silver-gray color.
For the South Florida season in 2013, the badge was redrawn again. The color palette turned white blue and tender orange, with the Discover logotype on top, and the orange image surrounded by blue waves at the bottom. The “South Florida” lettering in orange was placed right under the main wordmark banner, and the white “2013” datemark — under the graphics, at the very bottom of the crest. It was a very delightful banner full of positive vibes and summer feeling.
The elegant and mystical black and red badge was created for the National Championship in Pasadena in 2014. The red rose was back to the logo, and now placed under the red ribbon banner with a white geometric serif inscription on it. The datemark moved to the very top of the crest, and was now set in white above the Vizio logotype, executed in a fancy futuristic sans-serif, with gradient white-to-gray letters set on a plain black background.
The bold and brutal abbreviation from the primary badge of the BCS Championship Game was executed in a heavy geometric typeface, which had the uppercase letters’ contours clean and distinctive. The font, used in this insignia, is something in between Project Fairfax Full and Tuerca Black, but with some modifications.
As for the color palette of the BCS Championship Game, it is based on a timeless powerful combination of black, white, and red, with some cold gray gradients on the heavy capital letters. This color scheme looks very professional and brutal, evoking a sense of strength and excellence.