Outlaws GM considers new logo after school bans Overwatch League jersey
Robert Paul for Blizzard EntertainmentHouston Outlaws General Manager Matt ‘Flame’ Rodriguez has weighed in on a recent controversy in which a Kansas mother says her son wasn’t allowed to wear the Overwatch League team’s jersey to school because it has two guns on the front.
As Dexerto previously reported on October 12, Berryton Elementary in Kansas barred a 10-year-old boy from wearing his Outlaws jersey due to a policy on prohibiting apparel that “promotes violence” or “illegal activities”.
The Houston Outlaws logo shows two revolvers arranged to form a Texan longhorn skull. The logo is designed to “symbolize the strength of the team and the city it represents.”
The Houston Outlaws logo features two revolvers forming a Texan longhorn skull.According to Flame, he’s surprised more schools haven’t told students to turn their jerseys inside out, but noted this incident wasn’t the first time, and the team has sent students school-appropriate attire in the past to make up for the issues the logo caused.
In a reply to a tweet made by Overwatch League meme-specialist and Team UK community lead Bad Pachimari, Flame revealed he considered the problems the logo may create the second he saw it.
tbh the second we went over the logo the first thing I said was 'I wonder if theyll ever be able to put this logo on an elementary school student's backpack'
It's happened before already to another young student for a t-shirt. I think we sent him the baseball jersey to wear.
— Matt Rodriguez (@flameIRL) October 12, 2019
On his own page, the GM said how he thought it would be cool to create a “secondary logo” that makes the gun outline less obvious so merchandising would be easier.
When asked if he’d consider a cowboy hat logo, Flame replied that he was ‘over’ the concept and would instead prefer a live bull similar to traditional sports teams such as the Texans.
I do think it'd be cool to do a like secondary Outlaws logo that makes the gun outline less obvious solely for the purpose of merchandising for the younger audience. I'm actually surprised this 'turn your shirt inside out' thing has only happened a handful of times.
Not sure.
— Matt Rodriguez (@flameIRL) October 12, 2019
yeah I'm over the cowboy hats. If anything I'd rather make it more of a live bull similar to the Texans logo or boots/spurs rather than another overplayed 'dude in a cowboy hat' logo.
— Matt Rodriguez (@flameIRL) October 12, 2019
While continuing to discuss other possibilities Flame added that “less logo-centric merchandising” could be another way forward.
He also provided an interesting piece of trivia, stating that the team isn’t called the Outlaws in China and instead, their name there translates to “Sharpshooters” and is copyrighted as such.
So far it’s unclear if schools that banned the Houston Outlaws jersey for guns would also implement a ban on the Overwatch League logo itself. The logo features the game’s mascot Tracer blinking forward with two guns in her hands.
Dexerto has reached out to the school for comment.