New England Patriots Colors and Logo: A History and Color Codes
Why do the New England Patriots wear red, white and blue? The story of the New England Patriots colors, including full color codes
In this article, we look at the history and details of the New England Patriots logo and colors.
We discuss the different colors and logos that the team have used throughout the years- including full details of their CMYK, HEX, RGB and Pantone codes.
Brief history of the New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, initially called the Boston Patriots, were founded on November 16, 1959 by William Sullivan.
They were named as the last team of the American Football League. They joined the National Football League 11 years later in 1970.
Once the Super Bowl era began, while they didn’t have much playoff success for most of the 1900s, the 2000s were a different story.
They won 26.08% of Super Bowls this century, which is entirely due to the Tom Brady-Bill Belicik era.
Major honours trophies
Most of the Patriots honours and trophies have gone to Tom Brady, and there are too many to count in just one article.
The Patriots have been to 11 Super Bowls and won 6 of them. In addition, the Patriots have also been to 15 AFC championships in which they are 11-4.
The most famous New England Patriots
Everybody knows about Brady and Belicik, so we’ll choose some famous players that you may or may not know about!
Doug Flutie
While he was dominant for the Patriots in the 1980s, there are essentially two plays that Doug Flutie made famous.
The first is actually when he played for Boston College, when he successfully threw the infamous Hail Mary pass, winning Boston College the national championship against Miami in 1984.
The other is when he performed a drop kick against the Buffalo Bills on January 1, 2006.
Flutie also had his own brand, Flutie Flakes.
John Hannah
He was a guard for the Patriots from 1973-1985, and he was rather large for somebody playing in that era.
A 6’5 265 pound guard from Canton, Hannah was picked fourth overall in the first round of the 1973 draft.
Sam Cunningham
While the Patriots had their fair share of good running backs in the 2000s, chances are their all time leading rusher is not who you might think.
Sam Cunningham played as a Patriots running back from 1973-1982.
The brother of former Eagles quarterback Randall Cunningham, Sam was the 11th pick in the first round of the 1973 draft.
Stanley Morgan
Stanley Morgan is another blast from the past for the Patriots. He is their all time leading receiver.
During his career, Morgan racked up 534 receptions, 10,352 yards and 67 touchdowns.
Morgan also led the league in yards per catch during the 1979, 1980 and 1981 seasons.
Why do the Patriots wear red, white and blue?
While there doesn’t appear to be much information on why the Patriots wear red, white and blue, it is safe to assume that they wear their colors to represent the United States of America.
Their past logos are also supposed represent the soldiers who fought for America during the Revolutionary War.
New England Patriots colors: CMYK, HEX, RGB and Pantone color codes
Below, find the New England Patriots color details, including individual CMYK, HEX, RGB and Pantone color codes.
Patriots Blue
HEX: #002244
RGB: (0, 21, 50)
CMYK: (100, 65, 0, 60)
Pantone: PMS 289 C
Patriots Red
HEX: #C60C30
RGB: (213, 10, 10)
CMYK: (10, 100, 100, 0)
Pantone: PMS 186 C
Patriots Silver
HEX: #B0B7BC
RGB: (176, 183, 188)
CMYK: (3, 0, 0, 32)
Pantone: PMS 429 C
New England Patriots colors and logo history
While the Patriots have changed the details of their logo several times throughout their history, they always try to represent the same thing.
The first version of the Patriots logo is a full body image showing a military soldier in uniform holding a football.
The second version is a picture of a soldier’s head with stars on the side. Read a full history of this famous logo throughout the decades below.
1960-1971
This version of the Patriots logo is primarily red, white and blue. However, the artist chose not to use a full military uniform.
The man in the logo was eventually called Pat Patriot and he was drawn by Phil Bissell, a satirical draughtsman at the Boston Globe.
1972-1988
Since the Patriots had to change location during this period, they also felt that they needed to update their logo.
Before playing in Foxboro, they played at a number of different locations in Boston.
Pat the Patriot became more “colored in” and he was made to look more like an actual person.
1989-1992
Patriot Pat’s skin color was changed to white and he was upgraded to a full uniform.
1993-1999
The year 1993 is when you start to see the Patriots logo that you are familiar with today. The name “the flying elvis” was first added at this time.
As a matter of fact, out of all the major sports teams with a storied logo and color history, the Patriots is the one that seems to have changed the most.
While the basic concept of Patriot Pat as a soldier in the Revolutionary War remains the same, the designer essentially changed the logo from a full body image to a side image of a headshot.
The basic reason for the sudden change in appearance was to make it easier to advertise the Patriots brand. Bissell was still the designer of this version of the logo.
2000-Today
The logo didn’t change much during this time. However, a slightly darker blue was added to the logo to make it more modern and to make it easier to use in digital media.
