New York Jets Logo PNG
The New York Jets club logo reflects its history, professional affiliation, and commitment to the nation. The club’s name reflects the country’s “jet age”. The emblem’s impact helped it gain rapid recognition.
The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in New York City. They play in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) East Division. The team was founded in 1960. The team’s headquarters are located in Florham Park, New Jersey.
Harry Wismer was the franchise’s first owner. He attempted to prevent the sale by filing for bankruptcy. He claimed that moving to Shea Stadium would generate enough income to make the team profitable. A five-person syndicate, led by Sonny Werblin, saved the team from bankruptcy by buying the “Titans” for $1 million. The syndicate, Townsend Martin, Leon Hess, Donald Lillis, and Philip Iselin, owned the team until 1977.
Hess became the sole owner of the “Jets” in February 1984, when he bought out his partners, Townsend Martin and Helen Dillon, who had inherited a share from her father, Donald Lillis. He bought Martin’s share for $5 million and then purchased Dillon’s share for an additional $ 5 million. Leon Hess became known for his Hess Corporation gas stations, but he also played a significant role in the Jets’ development. Hess often fought for improvements while the team was a tenant at Shea Stadium, allowing football players to dig into sports matches.
Hess died in 2000, and when the team was put up for sale, two potential buyers emerged. Philanthropist Woody Johnson was known for expecting the best from his employees. He loved sports and wanted to own his own team.
The franchise got its name from its owner, Werblin. He chose from 500 candidates after the previous team was disbanded. It was named for its location between New York’s two main airports. Additionally, “Jets” sounded similar to the New York baseball team, “Mets.”
Meaning and History
Over time, the franchise used several logo concepts. After the “Jets” received their current nickname, they changed their logo. The designs didn’t differ much; only the details reflecting the club’s current status changed. The official colors remained green and white, symbolizing hope, novelty, and positivity.
What is the New York Jets?
The “New York Jets,” formerly known as the “New York Titans,” have been playing in the National Football League and the AFC East Division since 1970. Their headquarters are in Florham Park, New Jersey, and their home stadium is MetLife Stadium. The franchise’s official legal status is LLC.
1960 – 1962
Walt and Roy Disney founded a studio in Los Angeles in 1923 and named it Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio. Roy later suggested renaming the business Walt Disney Studio. His brother’s name became the company name, and Walt’s autograph formed the logo’s lettering. Over time, studio artists refined the signature while preserving its handwritten style.
The early “Walt Disney” wordmark uses rounded black strokes to form letters of varying heights and angles. The middle of the “W” curls inward, a vertical line runs through the “D,” and a loop replaces the dot over the “i.” The final “y” extends below the baseline. Loose flourishes connect the first and last names, maintaining a link to the founder’s handwriting.
A new motif entered the studio’s identity in 1985, when a castle appeared in the Walt Disney Pictures opening sequence. It connected the company’s on-screen identity with the architecture of Disney parks. In the castle version of the logo, the building sits inside a square frame, with the Disney name beneath it.
Towers of varying heights, topped with pointed spires and flags, form the silhouette of a fairy-tale palace. The arched entrance, windows, and other openings appear in white against the black building. A star-tipped arc curves above the rooftops. The handwritten name beneath the frame retains features of the earlier lettering, including a large “D” with a long upper flourish and a loop above the “i.”
1963
The transition from the Titans to the Jets began with a change in ownership. On April 15, 1963, the new management announced that the team would be renamed. Gothams, Borros, and Dodgers were among the names considered, but the club adopted Jets, a reference to jet aircraft. Team president Sonny Werblin associated the name with the jet age and the upcoming move to Shea Stadium. The stadium stood between LaGuardia and Idlewild airports, the latter later renamed for John F. Kennedy.
With the name change, the club also changed its colors, replacing blue and gold with green and white. Team representative Ted Deglin linked green to New York City’s parks and the surrounding area. He also cited its associations with hope, freshness, and joy.
The first Jets emblem, introduced in 1963, illustrated the new name with the silhouette of a jet aircraft. Its nose pointed left, while its wings and tail defined the emblem’s outline. White “JETS” lettering ran along the green fuselage. Heavy, slanted sans-serif letters filled nearly the entire visible silhouette. The emblem appeared on the team’s white helmets.
1964 – 1966
In 1964, the New York Jets replaced the aviation imagery in their emblem with a football motif. An elongated football outline replaced the aircraft silhouette. Inside, the team name, the city’s initials, and a small football shared a white field, keeping the green-and-white color scheme.
Large serif “NY” letters formed the backdrop for “JETS.” They had green outlines and white interiors. Solid green letters slanting to the right spelled out the team name across them. The contrast between outlined and filled lettering helped distinguish the two overlapping inscriptions. A small green football sat beneath them, echoing the shape of the outer border.
1967 – 1977
The Jets’ 1967 update replaced the white background with green and changed the team name and small football to white. The “NY” initials remained outlined. The shapes, sizes, and arrangement of the elements stayed the same.
The green-background version remained in use through 1977. It represented the team during the Joe Namath era, including its Super Bowl III victory.
1978 – 1997
The Jets’ 1978 emblem was designed by Jim Pons, a team employee who oversaw film and video work. Before entering football, he had worked as a musician. Pons played bass with the Leaves, the Turtles, the Mothers of Invention, and the Plastic Ono Band, and worked with Frank Zappa. After learning that a new emblem was in development and reviewing proposals from Manhattan designers, he offered the club an alternative. He took a few days to complete his design.
The border, “NY” initials, and small football gave way to the team name paired with a jet. Pons created right-slanting letters for “JETS,” combining angular forms with smooth curves. He extended the top of the “J” over the rest of the word. The long horizontal stroke formed an aircraft silhouette, with a right-pointing nose and a wing projecting above the letters. The aviation motif became part of the lettering, and the name remained green.
A white version of the wordmark appeared on green helmets. A black outline was added in 1990, when the team introduced black accents. Pons’s basic design was used from 1978 through 1997 and became known as the Sack Exchange-era emblem.
During its years with the emblem, the Jets moved from Queens to East Rutherford, New Jersey. The team moved to Giants Stadium in 1984.
1998 – 2019
Head coach Bill Parcells wanted to restore the Jets’ look from their Super Bowl III championship years. At his urging, the 1998 redesign took the 1965 emblem as its starting point. The “NY” initials, “JETS” name, and small football returned, reconnecting the team’s identity with that earlier championship era.
A rounded oval replaced the football-shaped outline. Its background was filled with hunter green, a dark shade. White “JETS” lettering stood out against it, with the outlined city initials behind the name and a small laced football below. This version remained in use until the 2019 redesign.
2019 – 2023
The next Jets redesign took five years to develop. The club worked with the NFL and Nike, aiming to maintain a connection to its history as it entered a new phase. The result was unveiled on April 4, 2019, at Gotham Hall in Manhattan.
A small white “NEW YORK” inscription above the team name replaced the large outlined “NY” initials. “JETS” remained the emblem’s dominant feature, retaining its heavy white sans-serif letters and rightward slant. The football beneath the name stayed, but its design was revised. The green oval border took on a football-like contour.
A shade called Gotham Green was developed for the new identity. White was named Spotlight White, while the black introduced into the team’s look was called Stealth Black. The primary emblem retained its green background, white lettering, and football.
2024 – today
Numerous fan requests preceded the return of the Sack Exchange-era emblem. In 2023, Jim Pons’s design reappeared on Jets helmets for two games. The club then revised the wordmark it had used from 1978 through 1997 and unveiled it on April 15, 2024, as part of the Legacy Collection.
The slanted “JETS” wordmark with an aircraft above the letters replaced the oval emblem. The “NEW YORK” inscription and football were removed, leaving the team name and aircraft silhouette. Compared with Pons’s design, the lettering became heavier, the spaces between letters narrowed, and the angles became more consistent. The aircraft’s pointed nose heightened the sense of speed.
The club introduced additional emblems alongside the primary logo. Shared letterforms, colors, and portions of the aircraft silhouette tied these variations together.
Font and Colors
The last six New York Jets logos share the same style, with minor details. They share a common symbol: a football. It has an oval shape and vertical seams at the center or just below it.
Many emblems feature two balls at once: a large one in the background and a smaller one added on. Designers also include inscriptions with the team’s name. It can be the phrase “NEW YORK JETS,” as it is now, its abbreviated version with the acronym “NY,” or the word “JETS.” The text identifies the football club and immediately shows who owns the logo.
Since 2019, the club has used a sans-serif italic font for inscriptions. All letters are set in bold capitals. When the emblem had the acronym “NY,” it was written in an old-fashioned font.
The color palette has remained largely unchanged throughout the team’s history. The only exception is the first logo, adopted when the club was called “The Titans of New York”: it combined pale gold and blue shades. Later versions used white and dark green. It remains relevant today.