Bill Wippert/NHLI via Getty Images
A fan of the Buffalo Sabres claps during an NHL game against the Minnesota Wild
There are thousands of high schools across the United States with sports teams that have adopted a logo taken from a college program or professional franchise. That includes one in Colorado that shares an identity with the Buffalo Sabres, but that may not be the case for much longer after it attracted the attention of the NHL’s legal team.
Sports teams are defined by the logos that are usually the product of a process involving countless hours of brainstorming and design work to perfect them. The organizations they’re associated with tend to be very protective of that imagery, as it essentially defines a brand that can be worth billions of dollars and gets slapped on virtually every piece of merchandise that gets sold.
However, those teams have historically turned a blind eye to a legally dubious practice that’s been embraced by the many high schools that have blatantly ripped off their logos for their own squads without paying any sort of licensing fee.
Just how widespread is that practice? Well, last year, a very devoted Reddit user attempted to see how many high schools in the United States have adopted the logos of NFL teams and discovered that practice was embraced by a grand total of 2,678 learning institutions (no franchise has had its intellectual property stolen more than the Eagles, whose symbol has been taken by 479 of them).
The NFL isn’t the only league that serves as inspiration, and the NHL has opted to go after a high school in Colorado over a case of trademark infringement.
Smoky Hill High School in Colorado is in hot water for using the “Goathead” logo associated with the Buffalo Sabres
The primary logo the Buffalo Sabres currently use is a glorified crest featuring a charging bison over a couple of crossed swords. However, I think most fans would agree it has nothing on the iconic “Goathead” logo that was introduced in 1996 and remained the go-to for the next two decades.
They made a comeback as an alternate in 2022 (the team actually played significantly better in games where they rocked them that season), and they’ve remained in the rotation since then.
According to The Denver Post, the Goathead has also been embraced by Smoky Hill High School, which is located in a suburb southwest of Colorado’s capital city and boasts sports teams known as the “Buffalo.” Its logo is virtually identical to the Goathead used by the Sabres, although it features a green and red color scheme as opposed to a black and red one.
However, that may not be the case for much longer, as the Cherry Creek School District (which oversees Smoky Hill) recently revealed it received a letter from the NHL in March over the use of the logo while informing students and parents it “will not sell clothing or other items” emblazoned with it when the new school year kicks off for legal reasons.
Administrators pledged to stick with the current Buffalo name and the color scheme, but it would appear a new logo is coming in the wake of the letter.
As the outlet notes, there are a number of schools in the district that use logos taken from NFL teams, but it sounds like any that have ripped off the NHL may want to start reassessing things.