Toronto Star February 13th 1989

 The good ship Argonaut has been sunk.

Toronto's Canadian Football League team has a new logo. Gone is the familiar floating football sporting an A on its sail. In its place, the club will now be represented by a stylized version of the word Argos.

Although the change has yet to be approved by the league, the logo has started to appear on the team's promotional material and will be officially unveiled soon.

A source close to the team said a new Argo team song - similar to the popular Okay, Blue Jays jingle used by the baseball team - will also be introduced as part of the club's new marketing strategy. Apparently one version of the song has been rejected by owner Harry Ornest because the emphasis was on the city name Toronto and not the Argo team name.

Changed Blues logo

That, according to Ornest, is also the thinking behind the new logo.

Last week he told The Star he wanted an emblem that would be instantly identified with the team.

"When you look at the logo of the Maple Leafs or the Blue Jays, you see the team name but with the Argonauts, all you see is that big A on top of a boat," he said. "It's hard to identify with that."

Although it has been modified over the years, the old logo dates back to the last century when the team was associated with the Toronto Argonaut Rowing Club.

When Ornest purchased the St. Louis Blues hockey club in 1983, one of his first moves was to introduce a new logo. When he sold the team four years later, the new owners switched back to the original team emblem.

New helmet design

The new Argo logo, a copy of which was obtained by The Star yesterday, is similar to the crest sported by the National Football League's New York Giants. It features white lettering on a dark blue background. Each letter is enclosed in powder-blue trim.

The old crest, based on the team's rowing heritage, depicts a football, with oars protruding from each of its seams, cutting through water. A billowing sail above the football carries the letter A.

It is hoped the new logo will appear on the players' helmets this coming season but one problem could be a league bylaw that requires the CFL be given a year's notice of any uniform change. It is expected the Argos' proposed logo change will come up for discussion at league meetings in Hamilton next week.

While the new logo and team jingle have yet to be introduced, a more subtle change is already in place. Under the new owner, switchboard operators at the Exhibition Stadium offices have been asked to answer the phone saying "Toronto Argos" rather than the familiar "Argonaut Football Club."