The moment the Rams dropped their new look in 2020, the internet basically broke. It wasn't just a "new logo" day. It was a full-scale digital riot. People saw a news ticker, they saw a wave, they saw a "C" for the Chargers—honestly, they saw everything except a ram. But here we are, years later, and the LA Rams football logo has somehow survived the initial roasting to become a championship-winning brand.
It’s weird how that happens. You hate something until you see it on a Super Bowl ring.
Designing a logo for a team with the history of the Rams is a nightmare. Think about it. You’ve got the 1950s "Night Train" Lane era, the "Fearsome Foursome" of the 60s, the "Greatest Show on Turf" in St. Louis, and now the Hollywood glitz of SoFi Stadium. How do you bottle all of that into one icon? Most fans wanted the 1980s throwback—the simple yellow horn on a blue helmet. Simple. Classic. Instead, they got a "gradient" and a logo that looked like it belonged on a surf shop in Santa Monica.
The LA Rams Football Logo: A Tale of Two Horns
The primary logo is a stylized "LA" where the horn grows out of the top of the "A." It’s meant to look like a phi-ratio curve, which is a math thing designers love, but most fans just saw a weirdly thick letter. If you look closely, the colors are "Rams Royal" and "Sol." It’s bright. Like, really bright. Nike and the Rams organization wanted something that popped on a smartphone screen, not just on a jersey.
The secondary logo, which is a literal ram head, actually got a warmer reception. It’s more aggressive. It looks like a football team. But even that faced scrutiny because the horn looks a bit like a fiber-optic cable or a neon light. It’s all part of that "modern Los Angeles" aesthetic. The team was trying to signal a departure from the St. Louis years and even the old Anaheim years. They wanted a brand that felt like 21st-century California.
Kevin Demoff, the Rams COO, actually took a lot of the heat personally. He even joked about it during the reveal, promising to donate to charity every time someone made fun of the logo. He ended up donating a lot of money.
Why the Horn Change Mattered So Much
The most controversial part wasn't the "LA" mark. It was the helmet. For decades, the Rams had a solid, singular horn painted on the side of the head. It was iconic. In 2020, they split the horn. They added a "break" in the design and used a gradient.
📖 Related: Bethany Hamilton and the Shark: What Really Happened That Morning
Purists lost their minds.
There is a psychological thing with sports logos where fans feel a sense of ownership. When you change the logo, you’re changing their childhood memories. The new horn was designed to mimic the "spiral" found in nature, specifically the horns of a real Bighorn sheep. But when you’re sitting in the 300-level seats at a stadium, you don't see "natural spirals." You see a yellow shape that looks a little bit like a crescent moon.
The Evolution of the Brand
- 1948: Fred Gehrke, a halfback for the Rams, literally hand-paints horns on his helmet. It's the first time an NFL team ever used a helmet logo.
- 1950s-1960s: The horns go from yellow to white, then back to yellow.
- 1970s-1990s: The "Classic" look. Deep royal blue and bold yellow.
- 2000-2019: The St. Louis era. "Millennium Blue" and "New Century Gold." Much darker, more corporate.
- 2020-Present: The current look. A return to bright colors but with ultra-modern shapes.
The 2020 rebrand was handled by Nike and a design firm called Collins. They spent years on it. They looked at the geometry of the "Golden Ratio." They studied the way light hits the Pacific Ocean. It’s all very "art school," which is exactly why blue-collar fans in the Midwest or old-school fans in the Valley felt alienated. It felt too polished. Too "corporate LA."
Did Winning the Super Bowl Save the Design?
Winning cures everything. In 2022, when Matthew Stafford led that final drive to beat the Bengals in Super Bowl LVI, the logo was everywhere. Confetti was falling on the "LA" mark at midfield. Aaron Donald was pointing to his ring finger while wearing the "Rams Royal" jersey.
Suddenly, the logo didn't look like a "news ticker" anymore. It looked like a winner.
There’s a lesson there about branding in sports. A logo is only as good as the team wearing it. If the Rams had gone 4-12 that year, the fans would still be calling for a total redesign. Because they won, the brand gained "equity." You start to associate that weirdly curved horn with Cooper Kupp making an insane catch or Sean McVay sprinting down the sideline.
👉 See also: Simona Halep and the Reality of Tennis Player Breast Reduction
Misconceptions About the Colors
One thing people get wrong is the "Sol" yellow. A lot of people thought it was a brand-new color. It’s actually a very close match to the yellow the team used in the 1970s. The difference is the fabric technology. Modern jerseys are made of "Vapor Untouchable" materials that reflect light differently than the old cotton or heavy mesh jerseys of the past.
Also, the "white" jerseys aren't actually white. They’re "Bone." It’s an off-white, light gray color meant to look like the color of an actual ram’s horn or the sand at the beach. Honestly, it was a bold move. Most teams just do a standard white away jersey. The Rams went with something that looks like a dusty desert road. It’s polarizing, but it’s distinct. You know exactly who is playing when you see that Bone color on TV.
Understanding the "LA" vs. the "Ram Head"
The team uses the "LA" mark as the primary because they are desperate to win the "Battle for Los Angeles" against the Chargers. By literally putting "LA" in the logo, they are claiming the city. The Chargers’ logo is just a bolt—it doesn't say the city name. The Rams are planting a flag.
The Ram Head logo is mostly for merchandise. It’s on hats, hoodies, and t-shirts. It’s the "fan" logo. The "LA" mark is the "business" logo. It’s a smart strategy, even if it feels a little calculated.
Real-World Feedback
If you go to a game at SoFi, you'll see a mix. The older crowd is almost exclusively in the 90s throwbacks or the 70s jerseys. The younger fans? They’ve embraced the new look. They like the bright colors. They like that it looks like something out of a video game.
It’s a generational divide that likely won't go away until the next rebrand, which, knowing the NFL, will probably happen in another 10 to 15 years.
✨ Don't miss: NFL Pick 'em Predictions: Why You're Probably Overthinking the Divisional Round
Critical Takeaway for Fans and Collectors
If you're looking to buy gear or just trying to understand the visual identity of the team, keep these specific details in mind.
First, the "gradient" is the most divisive element. It’s on the numbers of the home jersey and the logo itself. If you hate gradients, you’re going to hate the current Rams brand. There’s no way around it.
Second, the "Bone" color is surprisingly versatile. It looks better in person than it does on a screen. If you're a collector, the "Bone" jerseys are actually becoming more popular because they're so unique compared to the rest of the league.
Third, look at the eyes of the Ram Head logo. They are designed to be "focused and menacing." Unlike the old St. Louis ram head, which looked a bit more like a drawing in a textbook, this one is meant to look like a mascot.
Next Steps for Rams Fans:
If you want to see the evolution yourself, check out the Rams' official "Equipment Room" or visit the Pro Shop at SoFi Stadium. Compare the "Throwback" line to the "Modern" line. You'll notice the blue in the modern logo is significantly more vibrant—it's designed to glow under the LED lights of a modern stadium. Also, keep an eye on the "anchor" logos used in certain stadium graphics; they often experiment with variations that don't make it onto the primary jersey, giving you a hint of where the brand might go next.