The Mid-Con Heads for a Summit - FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Here I thought the 25th Anniversary logo for the Mid Continent Conference was supposed to be in celebration, not to mark they year it died. The conference home of South Dakota State, Oral Roberts, North Dakota State, Western Illinois, Southern Utah, Missouri-Kansas City, Centenary, Oakland, IPFW and IUPUI has decided that in honor of 25 years of having an inaccurate description as a conference a change was needed. A conference that has members stretching east and west from Michigan to Utah and north and south from North Dakota to Louisiana (really, other than being a mid-major, there's nothing "Mid" or middle about them).

Say hello to the "Summit League."

Included in the plan is the creation of a new image with the unveiling of a new name, logo and Web site. As of June 1, 2007, the conference will be known as The Summit League (www.thesummitleague.org).

"The Summit League provides a mental image to reach for the top, both academically and athletically," Commissioner Tom Douple said. "The new name fits in perfectly with the Presidents Council's vision for the continued improvement and growth of the league."

The name was developed over the last eight months by a conference-wide committee. The logo itself was designed by Nina Schmidt, a graphic designer at South Dakota State University.

The new logo is a gray triangle with a little curve in the bottom left, then underneath in big block letters "Summit" and then in smaller block letters under that "League." Okay.

What really makes this great are the "Talking Points" handout (PDF).

On first reference, refer to it as The Summit League. Future references may be shortened to The Summit

Do not refer to the league as TSL or SL

The "The" is very important, but they don't say you can't just call it "Summit." I kind of like TSL, though.

As part of the the new logo, they have a plan. "The Summit Plan," because it's always good to make a plan, and even better when it is named the same as the new name..