Indians Debut a Whole New Look at Victory Field

Friday night at Victory Field felt a little different. At the team’s annual Swing fundraiser, the Indianapolis Indians pulled back the curtain on a brand-new look—fresh uniforms, sharp logos, and shelves stocked with updated merchandise. Fans got the first taste of what the franchise will look like moving forward, and the reaction was immediate: the team store was jammed.

It’s been a long time coming. The Indians haven’t made a full-scale change since the early 1990s. Back then, their branding leaned on Southwestern Native American imagery, a style that never truly reflected Indianapolis. Chairman Bruce Schumacher admitted the team had simply outgrown it.

“In sports, thirty years without a makeover? That’s a lifetime,” he said.

The new designs are all about the city itself. Clean lettering spells out “I,” “Indy,” and “Indpls,” paired with 1902—the year the franchise was founded. The idea was to land on something classic, something that feels like it belongs to Indianapolis and nowhere else.

This rebrand didn’t just pop up out of nowhere. In fact, the club spent much of 2023 weighing a much bigger question: whether to keep the “Indians” name at all. After months of discussion, the decision was made to keep the name but to strengthen ties with the Miami Nation of Indians of Indiana. That partnership now funds scholarships, brings cultural programming to fans, and includes a land acknowledgement before every home game.

The project was handled in-house by senior brand director Adam Pintar. He worked with staff, fans, and the Miami Nation to land on the final look.

At the unveiling, Schumacher and team president Randy Lewandowski were joined on stage by former players Razor Shines and Dallas Williams, who modeled the new uniforms to plenty of cheers.

Of course, a rebrand touches just about everything. From tickets and banners to websites and social media, nearly every corner of the organization needs to be refreshed. Schumacher compared it to taking on a renovation: “You start with one number in mind, and pretty soon it grows on you.”

He doesn’t see it as wasted money, though.

“This isn’t about a quick trend,” Schumacher said. “It’s about giving the team an identity that really fits Indianapolis, one that can stick around for years.”

Other teams, like Cleveland, have gone the route of completely changing their name. Indianapolis decided instead to keep its historic identity, but give it a modern face.

Now, with the 2025 season right around the corner, fans will get the chance to see the Indians’ new look in action. The hope is simple: that the redesign breathes new energy into the ballpark and reminds the city how deeply this team has been woven into its summers for more than a century.