Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in Los Angeles, California. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The team was founded in 1936.
In almost 85 years, the franchise relocated several times. Initially, it was based in Cleveland, where it was founded. Its first relocation took place in 1946. On January 12, 1946, the team owner Dan Reeves obtained the NFL’s consent to allow his team to relocate to Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which had a seating capacity at the time of 105,000 far higher than their Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
The second relocation was suggested by Georgia Frontiere, who thought that the club needs to leave Los Angeles to be saved. Under her pressure, Paul Tagliabue, a Commissioner of the National Football League, gave way and agreed to move the franchise. The third relocation was after the 2015 season. Several clubs applied for the relocation to Los Angeles. NFL authorities voted for the Rams. The Rams officially relocated back to Los Angeles on January 12, 2016.
The club had many owners. The first one was Homer Marshman, the founder. He was in charge until 1941; then, he sold the franchise to Dan Reeves, who owned it until 1971. Then there was a long line of owners: Robert Irsay (1971), Carroll Rosenbloom (1972-1979), Georgia Frontiere (1979-1995), Georgia Frontiere with Stan Kroenke (1995-2008), Chip Rosenbloom, Stan Kroenke and Lucia Rodriguez (2008-2010). The team’s sole owner is Stan Kroenke now.
Considering how many times the franchise moved from town to town, its nickname’s frequent change is understandable. The team just added the name of another town to “Rams” every time. And the word “Rams” refers to a sports team Fordham Rams, from Cleveland’s university.
Meaning and History
When it comes to logos, the Los Angeles Rams are surprisingly volatile. She redesigns almost every decade. True, in most cases, it goes unnoticed: the artists change one color, add minor details, or turn the image in the opposite direction. But there were also global changes in the history of club signs when football helmets and stylized lettering were in the spotlight. The last emblem is exactly the case.
1941 – 1942
The first logo of the team appeared in 1941. It was a symbol of the head of a ram, which looked to the right. The head contained realistic facial features and large blue horns. In this form, the emblem lasted until the outbreak of World War II. When the war began, the team suspended participation in the matches.
1944 – 1945
In 1944, Cleveland Rams returned to the field. Along with the return, the team introduced a new logo. The team retained the ram symbol, but now its head is turned to the left. Revised colors range logo. The face of the animal was poured with blue, and the horns were made white.
1946 – 1950
The team changed its location from Cleveland to Los Angeles. The logo for four seasons remained the same.
1951 – 1969
Although the team retained the old logo from Cleveland in a new place, in 1951, the emblem and color changed. All the same realistic features of the animal, and the Golden Horns. 1951 was a good year for the team; they won the NFL title.
1970 – 1982
The logo of that time was similar to the debut logo. Los Angeles Rams eliminated the color blue from the logo; they left only yellow and white colors. Ram’s head with horns is in the center inside a thick yellow ring. The ram is charging with its mouth open as if it’s trying to breathe before the attack.
There’s an inscription “NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE” in capital letters at the top of the ring and “LOS ANGELES RAMS” at the bottom. The logo also features seven stars on the left and three stars on the right. All inscriptions are black, like the other elements’ outlines.
1983 – 1988
The horns became such a noticeable part of the Baran uniform that the team took a side view of the helmet as their main logo in 1983, although in 1989, they abandoned the old one in favor of new modernized helmet design.
1989 – 1994
This Los Angeles Rams logo was a logical follow-up of 1983 when they used a helmet as a symbol of the team. Its debut version vaguely resembled a real helmet, and this version is far more realistic. The helmet is turned to the right and has a facemask. The helmet is blue, and its design is yellow ram’s horns wrapped around the earhole.
1995 – 1999
In 1995, the team moved to St. Louis and changed its logo. On the logo, there is an inscription “Rams” and “Gateway to the West.” The arch in St. Louis is the city’s main attraction, so the leadership reflected it in the new logo. The color scheme of the emblem is blue and yellow.
2000 – 2015
In 2000, due to the low popularity of the club’s emblem among the fans of the team, and the loss of connection with the origins, the management returned the new-old club logo. Now it is a stylized ram looking down. The new symbol of the team as if warns, “Better give up, or it will hurt!”
2016
In 2016, the Los Angeles Rams logo was redesigned. There was a big wordmark “Rams,” small “LOS ANGELES” in white, and a charging ram’s head below. “R” looks like the horns, so it’s perfectly aligned with the team’s key symbol.
The color scheme of the logo is changed too: they used only dark blue, gold, and white. The black outline is gone; it was replaced with the gold line along with the main elements. It visually combines the word “Rams” with the ram’s head.
Designers created one more version of the Los Angeles Rams logo during the same period. This logo has the same shape, but the color is different. Designers removed the dark background and replaced it with the white one, which gives the impression that the ram is looking down. Ram’s head has the same style as the word “Rams.” The light outline is gone: a few white strokes are left only on the horns and the face. The name of the team’s city is dark blue, like the other elements.
In this period, Los Angeles Rams unveiled a logo with only one letter “R.” It’s drawn upon the previous logo, which depicted more details. This minimalism draws attention to the key symbol of the club – a ram’s head. Its sketch can be seen in the redesigned logo. Illustrators combined two key figures and perfectly stylized them: the upper part of the letter is in the shape of a ram’s horn. The color scheme of the logo is a combination of gold and blue. There are no outlines.
2017 – 2019
Starting with 2017, the Los Angeles Rams logo is designed as “R,” which appeared in the second half of 2016. It took over its style, graphics, and design. The upper part of the letter still resembles a ram’s horn. It’s a reference to both the franchise name and the ram’s head. It stands for persistence, determination, willingness to attack, which is critical to winning.
The color is the only thing changed in the Los Angeles Rams logo: the letter became white with a dark blue outline.
2020 – present
On March 23, 2020, Los Angeles Rams officially unveiled its new logo and color scheme during a live broadcast on its website and social networks.
In 2020, the designers moved away from the classic sign again and created a logo with the “LA.” Despite the literal content, it is closely associated with the most popular symbol of the Los Angeles Rams, as the top “A” clearly imitates a swirling ram’s horn. This is achieved not only through the recognizable shape but also through color transitions from blue to yellow and yellow to orange.
The letters “LA” in the new logo have a blue color when used on a white background, but the letter “A” noticeably shifts from blue to various yellow shades since it imitates the curvature of a real ram’s horns. It is worth noting that the transition is much more natural when the font is white and is used on a blue background.
The new emblem focused on the horn, which seemed to intertwine with “LA.” This is like a reference to the fact that the Rams will forever be connected with the city of Los Angeles. For many years, the horn adorned and was the main element of the club’s logos. Therefore, the gradient color transition is made specifically, as the club said, “to respect the evolution of the horns’ color that historically adorned the rams’ helmets.” The horned symbol on the Rams new logo gives a sense of movement, team, and club progress.
Font and Colors of the Emblem
For many years, the team’s main symbol has been the head of a ram with large curved horns. From time to time, it faded into the background: for example, from 1983 to 1994, the version with a football helmet was used, and from 1994 to 1999 – with the original inscription.
In 2020, the designers moved away from the classic sign again and created a logo with the “LA.” Despite the alphabetic content, it is closely associated with the most popular symbol of the Los Angeles Rams, as the top “A” clearly imitates a swirling ram’s horn. This is achieved not only thanks to the recognizable shape but also through color transitions from blue to yellow and yellow to orange.
The letters “LA” are slightly sloped to the right and written in a custom sans serif typeface. They are both blue, but from the top of “A” emerges a yellow-orange curving shape with a pointed end. This is a ram’s horn as conceived by the designers, and the gradient was used specifically to convey the evolution of the color of the horns on the previous team logos. Thus, the new logo’s palette is a tribute to the entire history of the Los Angeles Rams. It symbolizes progress and creates a sense of dynamics.