In November, MacsLive unveiled a series of new logos, reflecting the Yeshiva University basketball team’s jerseys and paying tribute to the new broadcasting equipment recently donated. While the new logos are sleek and in-line with the recent cinematic advancement in the area of sports broadcasting within MacsLive, this was not always the case, with the official MacsLive name and logo going through a long process before it became what it is today.
This is the history of the MacsLive logo.
2001-2004: The Early Years of MacsLive
In 2001, a few seniors at YU formed the MACS LIVE radio-only broadcast. This program was intended to provide the opportunity for fans, who were not able to attend games, to listen to Yeshiva basketball. Along with the radio broadcast, the MACS LIVE team would write game previews and recaps that were emailed to all YU students (after a long hiatus, this piece of MacsLive was brought back last year).
In 2003, just a couple of years later, a website for MACS LIVE was formed, called MacsLive! Reporting Services. With the creation of the website came the first-ever MacsLive logo: An illustration of an orange basketball behind the word MacsLive! This website served as a portal for fans around the globe to tune in to the audio broadcasts of the Yeshiva University basketball team, along with providing the opportunity for Sarachek Tournament and MYHSAL (Metropolitan Yeshiva High School Athletic League) enthusiasts and parents to listen to the play-by-play of those games. The website also featured a section of press releases with previews and recaps of YU’s games.
During January 2004, after multiple years of building up a radio fanbase, MacsLive decided it was time to create a more professional website, and with that came a new logo. The new logo’s main color was red, and did away with the exclamation point after MacsLive; however, the words “Reporting Services” were still a part of the logo. The new website and logo were an improvement and certainly more exciting than the previous model, though these changes lasted for less than a few months, as the logo was slightly changed from red and blue to red and black for the Sarachek tournament. A few months after these two changes, MacsLive decided to go in a different direction, shifting to a much more familiar look.
2004-2009: MacsLive’s Font Fixture
Over the summer of 2004, MacsLive completely revamped its logo to include the classic font that MacsLive used for the next 15-plus years. The main colors were kept red and black and MacsLive also got rid of the words “Reporting Services”. From then on, the team has been known as simply “MacsLive”. Also, a description regarding MacsLive’s capabilities was added underneath the logo.
However, in 2005 (just half a year later), MacsLive made a few more small adjustments to the logo, most notably making the entire “MacsLive” word a much more vibrant red. The logo also only included half of the description that it had previously, (depending on which half of the MacsLive coverage, either Yeshiva’s season or Sarachek, was happening), and moved it on top of the MacsLive logo. After a few years of repeatedly toying with the logo, MacsLive finally found a logo that they were content with, at least for a few years.
2009-2020: MacsLive’s Color Scheme Switch
Four years later, in 2009, the MacsLive staff decided that they had enough of the color red but still liked the logo and the look. Therefore, in a groundbreaking move, MacsLive changed the color of the logo they had used for the past number of years to blue and black.
Furthermore, a new logo emerged; the blue “M” from the old logo was enlarged and the word MacsLive shifted underneath, becoming the main logo for MacsLive.
With the complete remodeling of the website in 2010, MacsLive made one last change before staying relatively stagnant for many years: They added in a white version of the classic MacsLive logo, one that appeared on the website for the majority of the decade.
These new logos became well known across the country, as they became synonymous with the Red Sarachek tournament by high school students throughout the greater American Jewish community who would tune in to hear, and starting in 2012, watch the Sarachek games live.
In 2018, MacsLive added a new logo, a black outlined circle with a lighter blue “M”, and the word MacsLive underneath. Keeping the same style of logo as before and similar colors, MacsLive’s logo did not change too much.
2020-Present: Rebranding of MacsLive
Last month, MacsLive completely changed its logo, notably changing the font of all previous logos from the past 15 years. Furthermore, MacsLive’s four new logos’ primary colors are ocean boat blue and black, helping build the connection to the Yeshiva basketball team (and their jerseys), for whom MacsLive was created. The “i” in MacsLive has a camera on top of it, a reference to the new $47,000 high-tech equipment generously donated.
Along with the rebranding of our logo, we hope to continue to advance content and implement media improvements in order to provide the MacsLive fanbase with a clearer and more professional experience.
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