Bracket Challenge: ISL Logos 2020 – An Upset Into The Final Round

We’re on to the semifinals in our International Swimming League logo bracket, with just four franchises remaining.

Round 3 Recap

NY Breakers (61%) over DC Trident (39%)

It’s a return trip to the final for the New York Breakers, who skated by the DC Trident by a slightly wider margin than their round 2 win over the Tokyo Frog Kings.

We’ll continue to stand by last week’s assertion that New York Breakers vs Tokyo Frog Kings may have been the marquee matchup of the tournament. The Frog Kings did win the consolation poll and will finish in 5th place overall, but those two might be the runaway best logos of the bunch.

Most of our reader comments focused in on the brutal Breakers vs Frog Kings matchup from last week:

  • “The ‘real’ championship was last week between the Breakers and the Frog Kings.” – IU Swammer
  • “Who didn’t vote for Frog Kings???” – Sad
  • “This is a travesty. The Frog Kings are so clearly superior, I don’t understand what happened. I will absolutely be looking for merch even though I’m rooting for the Condors.” -Roch

Cali Condors (51%) over London Roar (49%)

If the last matchup was the battle of logos with white trim, this one was the battle of the golds. And it was a shocker of a vote. The Roar were a standout of last year’s poll, rolling to the final and coming within 6% of besting New York for the win. But this time around, the Cali Condors knocked off London in round 2, and it’ll be an All-USA final.

The vote here came down to just 11 total votes in an absolute nailbiter.

A few reader comments:

  • “Very similar concept, but I give the edge to the Condors since condors are sort of aquatic, and because I associate condors with California more than I associate lions with London.” – IU Swammer
  • “London and Lions – London’s pro men’s basketball team, who were the 2018-2019 British Champions, are actually called the London Lions. The Lion is also the national animal of England. The Royal Arms of England has 3 lions on it. There is actually a very, very long connection between England and Lions. That being said, I also slightly prefer the Cali logo. If you told me they were designed by the same person, I’d believe you. I like the particular shade of blue and gold chosen by Cali more than I like the gold of the London logo, and I think the Cali logo is a little more stylized.” – Braden Keith
  • “Toughest here is definitely London v California. They both look regal and epic, but I’ll take London because I like their lions better than whatever is going on in the middle of the Cali condors.” – Jonathan Charbroiled Steak

Consolation Bracket

5th Place: Tokyo Frog Kings (60%)

6th Place: Iron (28%)

7th Place: LA Current (7%)

8th Place: Aqua Centurions (6%)

9th Place (from last week): Toronto Titans

10th Place (from last week): Energy Standard

The Bracket

Round 4 Matchups

Championship Matchup

NY Breakers vs Cali Condors

Which ISL team has the better logo? (Final)

  • NY Breakers (51%)
  • Cali Condors (49%)
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3rd Place Consol (AKA The B-Final)

London Roar vs DC Trident

Which ISL team has the better logo (3rd Place Match)

  • London Roar (79%)
  • DC Trident (21%)
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Swim fan 44
3 years ago

Trident breakers

Hmm
3 years ago

Best logo / worst team curse.

Like you read about….

swimfan210_
3 years ago

Ranking the logos (personal opinion):
1: Cali Condors
2: Tokyo Frog Kings
3: NY Breakers
4: London Roar
5: Iron
6: DC Trident
7: LA Current
8: Aqua Centurions
9: Energy Standard
10: Toronto Titans

bad bad design
3 years ago

Toronto Titans is disgraceful. community center logo

Cody Miller's breastroke kick
3 years ago

I really want to buy a Tokyo Frog Kings t-shirt

Khachaturian
3 years ago

Can someone explain to me why the NY Breakers logo has persevered this far?

Admin
Reply to  Khachaturian
3 years ago

Honestly? Like honestly honestly?

The Breakers do a better job of engaging with swim-centric media than many teams do. The general attitude I get from the league (the head office, specifically) is that they believe the swimming audience will just come ‘because,’ and that they need to put all of their effort into capturing the NYT/ESPN/CNN/L’Equipe audience.

The Breakers’ social media presence has felt much more “chlorinated” to me. We certainly see them show up in our mentions more than any other team. And so I think that’s why they’re probably winning this poll.

To compare to an election: ‘they’ve got the best ground game’ to win a poll like this.

It’s not that I don’t think that there are… Read more »

swimfan210_
3 years ago

-Frog Kings are definitely better than 5th. Maybe not 1st because all of these logos are awesome (ok maybe except Energy and Toronto) but maybe it was just bad luck in the bracket.
-For the final, Cali Condors have a slightly more unique logo. The Breakers logo looks a little too “straight” simple flat and aggressive. Cali Condors have a more complex, maybe even oddly mesmerizing logo. The feel of the Condors logo feels a little bit more “swimming” to me, while the Breakers logo feels like it could be any sport.
-DC Trident needs more of a trident in the logo, even though I never noticed that until recently. Their logo looks a bit childish though it… Read more »

IU Swammer
3 years ago

I’d like to see Frog Kings vs. Cali Condors.

About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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