With the season set to kick off this weekend.
In a statement uploaded on its platforms, the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) announced that a departure from tradition in the upcoming edition of the league.
Season 89, which is hosted by the Far Eastern University and bears the theme “For Everyone, UAAP,” will have no separate emblem to mark this season, as it has been done for many editions.
Instead, UAAP President Mark Molina explained that the move will give way to “one clear and recognizable logo.”
“We believe there should be only one UAAP logo. Creating a different logo for every season can confuse the audience and weaken the branding of the UAAP logo,” said Molina.
Instead, the current logo, launched in 2021, will be paired with the season’s theme.
However, another layer to that story is that the current UAAP logo was created in 2021 by Darryl John Digal, then an FEU Bachelor of Fine Arts Visual Communication student, who entered the logo competition as part of a class requirement.
“His design, inspired by the traditional Filipino sport sipa, was selected as the league’s new official mark,” furthered the league. “The logo brings together the colors of the eight UAAP member universities and reflects sportsmanship, camaraderie, fairness and civility.“
The said design is also said to represent the league’s athletic identity and the banding of its eight member schools.
“Since the UAAP logo itself was created by an FEU student, we also saw this season as an opportunity to highlight the story behind the mark rather than create another one,” Molina added.
Meanwhile, in addition to the logo, this season’s visual materials will also use beadwork-inspired elements that pay homage to Mangyan beadwork traditions.
“For FEU, the direction is clear: keep the UAAP mark at the center and let the Season 89 theme and visual system carry the host identity,” the UAAP added.
The upcoming 89th season opening ceremony was also previously announced to become more accessible for more audiences.
This, as the event scheduled on September 12 (Saturday) at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City and sees Far Eastern University take the lead as the host university, will be streamed live and for free on the One Sports YouTube channel.
Not only that, the company also confirmed that men’s basketball games and the annual cheerdance competition, which air alongside other sports on the UAAP Varsity Channel on pay TV via Cignal and streaming on Cignal Play, will also be made available on the said YouTube channel.
