Since 2011, when the Birmingham Bowl was played for the first time under its current name, its emblem has remained unchanged. In this description, we do not take into consideration the period when the game was known as PapaJohns.com Bowl (2006–2010) and had a different brand identity.
What is Birmingham Bowl?
Birmingham Bowl is the collegiate rugby bowl game, which belongs to the NCAA league, and is held annually since 2006. The Bowl is located in Birmingham, Alabama, and is played on the Protective Stadium.
The Birmingham Bowl was established in 2006 as the Papa Johns Bowl, so the first two logos were executed in the Papa Johns color palette, composed of red, green, and white. The first logo featured a vertically placed rugby ball in brown and green, with white details and stitched. It was placed on a light gray crest with sharp angles and had an arched red banner with “PapaJohns.Com” in all capitals on it, a green arched ribbon with the black “Bowl”, and the official Papa Johns Pizza insignia at the very bottom of the logo.
The redesign of 2010 introduced a cleaner and fresher version of the Bowl’s logo, with no brown color, and more white elements. The vertical rugby ball was removed from the emblem, the Papa Johns Pizza official badge was enlarged and placed on the top of the composition. The “Bowl” part of the inscription was set in all capitals of a stylized modern typeface with wide letters and sharp angles. The green letters were outlined in white, and the whole inscription was set on an arched red and green ribbon with a thick white outline. The badge was complemented by a green rugby ball with white lines, set horizontally at the very bottom.
In 2011 the badge of the Bowl was redrawn, as it got a new sponsor, BBVA Bank. The badge was drawn in a blue and silver-gray color palette, with the wide light blue badge in a thick dark outline. The crest was accompanied by an arched line with the lettering, with the rugby ball on top of it, and the gradient silver “Bowl” in all capitals. The top part of the logo featured six white stars on the sides from the vertically set gray and blue rugby ball. The delicate white “Birmingham, Al” in small capitals of a simple sans-serif typeface was set on the bottom line of the Bowl’s logo.
The Birmingham Bowl logo, designed in 2014, is still used by the league. It is a modern and stylish crest, with the bottom part in solid blue, a gradient extra-bold serif “Bowl” in all capitals, followed by the thin uppercase motto in a classy font, and a red “Birmingham” banner above it. On the upper part of the badge there is a gray and blue rugby ball coming out from the shield, and set over the gray and blue landscape of the city.
At the very center of the Birmingham Bowl logo, there is the name of the game. Both the words are given in white, but the word “Bowl” features a gray gradient, due to which it gets some dimension. The lettering “Birmingham” also gets an individual style due to the choice of type and the varying size of the letters.
Above the lettering, there are a stylized football in blue and grey and the skyline of Birmingham.
In 2016 the classic version of the badge, designed in 2015 came back to the Bowl. All the elements remained in their places and nothing had been changed. The logo stayed like that for another season and became a basis for future redesigns.
In 2018 the Bowl got a new sponsor, Jared, so the logo was redesigned according to the logo design of the company. The badge got slightly narrower, and taller, with the elegant black Jared logotype in all capitals, with the first letter enlarged. The inscription was set in a sleek thin serif font, with the letters placed close to each other, touching the serifs.
The new sponsor of the Howl was introduced in 2020, along with the new logo. The gradient shades were gone from the badge, so it became flat and simple, yet didn’t lose its recognizability and authenticity. The red banner was now for the sponsor’s logotype — it featured a white sans-serif “Ticket Smarter” inscription in the title case, with the first word in thin, and the second — in thick lines. As for the “Birmingham Bowl” wordmark, it was set on a blue background under the red banner, and executed in a custom square serif typeface, with massive letters and distinct contours. The three solid white five-pointed stars were set under the lettering, along the bottom border of the crest.
The version of the logo, introduced in 2021, was created to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Bowl. All details on the badge got a bit smaller, to make more space on the bottom for the white rectangle with a datemark and an enlarged “15” in the middle. Another change was made for the color palette of the logo, as its blue shade became lighter and calmer, making the whole composition look brighter and more delightful.
The Birmingham Bowl logo redesign, held in 2022, has brought back the game’s badge, created in 2020, after it was for one season replaced by the anniversary edition. Today it is still the same familiar white and blue crest with a red banner and three white five-pointed stars at the bottom of the composition.