“The players having input into the future franchises and what they look like was a really cool process for us,” Rutstein said. Overtime Elite now has a role for each of the three teams from that lens. The best leagues and best stories have heroes and villains, Rutstein said. It’s the overall positive brand ethos that we’ve tried to convey.” Whatever their dreams are, make them come true whether it’s playing professionally overseas or in the NBA. We’re here to help these athletes get to the next level. “This is the motif of a lot of what we do at Overtime Elite,” Rutstein said. The black road jerseys feature a collage of positive affirmations like strive, passion, dreams, and hunger. Uniforms come complete with a crescent moon in the background of the gold home jerseys, dotted with pinstripes made of tiny stars. “Dreams take you to the top, but we’re not stopping there.” Those are inspirations for the black-and-yellow-clad YNG Dreamerz. The Teams Cold HeartsĪim for the stars and shoot for the moon. “We’re really trying to be so strategic and thoughtful around those elements,” Rutstein said. The goal is to give all three teams their own home-court advantage. Rutsetin likes that the team names are Gen-Z, and since the league plans to expand in the future, he expects this to be the first of many internal collaborative processes.ĭuring games, the OTE arena will showcase different aesthetics for the three teams, with custom lighting, music, halftime acts, and a different tone for each. Team t-shirts, jerseys, pajama pants, and more will be available online and at the OTE arena during games. And we don’t have as many rules and constraints from legal and brand guidelines as probably the big corporations do so we could have a lot more fun.” My goal is really to be a part of the jersey culture conversation as much as possible. “And the players were part of this process the whole way. “We plan to build businesses behind them just as a fan shop would for any other legacy team,” Rutstein told Boardroom. They’ll be the three OTE team names moving forward. The three new teams, Cold Hearts, City Reapers, and YNG Dreamerz, are now trademarked. This process was integrated into the players’ education, building life skills and creativity. Players got to choose the colors as well, which are completely distinct from one another. Then they iterated on the logo process, with the logos sometimes even influencing the team names. Overtime went through a long process with players, iterating multiple times, because some choices may have already been trademarked. We could make something with none of the rules that apply to your normal naming conventions within teams, and really think of them as sub-brands within Overtime.” “You could think about this in terms of the name of your favorite band, your streetwear brand. “Don’t think about this in terms of like you’re building an NBA team,” Rutstein advised the players. The groups had creative sessions, giving the players - who have individual equity in Overtime - a stake in the process of their futures and legacies with a blank slate. They also had Overtime VP and general merchandise manager Tyler Rutstein to offer his expertise. OTE took its existing teams, sat down with the players, and paired each group with a designer. But by building upon an ethos that’s player- and fan-focused, Overtime developed three franchises that will exist beyond this season. There are no longstanding ties to cities, schools, players, or home towns. Overtime has constraints when it comes to attracting fans for its teams. Same with the orange and teal color schemes that made up the individual uniforms. Team OTE, Team Overtime, and Team Elite are no more. It’s a necessary step in Overtime’s evolution - there just wasn’t enough time to build out team IP in year one, which is vital for fan engagement. This year, the league has given its athletes direct input into the team names, logos, identities, and jerseys for the 2022-23 campaign. Just over a year into the Overtime Elite era, and the league has already built a full complex and assembled three teams of elite talent. It’s time to meet Cold Hearts, City Reapers, and YNG Dreamerz - the three teams that will make up Overtime Elite.
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