Ducks Hope Logo Fits the Bill

The uniform design for the Mighty Ducks, which is being formally unveiled today, snubs Donald in favor of a more serious image--a goaltender’s mask embellished with a flared duck bill.

“It’s a hockey mask in the shape of a duck face,” said Jason Park, a manager at the Kings’ Slap Shop in Santa Ana who was shown the design by someone in the sportswear industry.

Others who have seen the jerseys say the mask design is enhanced by a puck and two crossed yellow hockey sticks that one person described as reminiscent of a skull and crossbones. The logo is on a triangular background.

The team’s colors are predominantly teal green and dark purple, with the uniforms enhanced by silver striping. The lettering on the jerseys is expected to say, “Mighty Ducks,” not simply “Ducks,” as did the rather unattractive uniforms in the Disney kids’ movie.

The logo, which was selected and refined from submissions from the Walt Disney Co.’s vast staff of artists, was to be unveiled by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on NBC’s “Today” this morning, along with the design for the Florida Panthers’ logo.

Bettman will be discussing the marketing of the NHL--something that was a key consideration in the design process for both teams.

Retail sales of licensed products for another recent expansion team, the San Jose Sharks, reached $150 million in 1992 as even non-hockey fans grabbed up T-shirts bearing the striking, angular logo of a shark biting through a hockey stick. The Sharks, not much of a success on the ice, were second in retail sales only to the Chicago Bulls in all of professional sports last year.

Disney is unabashed about wanting to emulate the Sharks, and by Sunday afternoon, merchandise with the new logo was already waiting in storerooms at many area Disney stores, at Disneyland and at Walt Disney World in Orlando.

“We’d like every kid in America to want to have a Mighty Ducks T-shirt or hockey sweater,” Tony Tavares, president of Disney Sports Enterprises said during the design process. “I think that’s one of the things the NHL is looking for us to do.”