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NFL teams usually have their team logo painted in the middle of their home field, spanning 5 yards to the left and to the right of the 50 yard line.

I've noticed that some stadiums are missing the logo and instead have the NFL logo printed at the center of the field. Carolina Panther's Band of America Stadium and and New Jersey's Metlife Stadium are 2 examples. The latter hosts both the New York Jets and New York Giants. Since 2 teams play at Metlife Stadium I'm assuming the NFL logo is used to keep the field neutral.

Which NFL stadiums have the NFL logo at the center, and what's the reason behind this?

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Actually, those aren't the only two. The LA Rams currently have the NFL Shield as the midfield logo at the Coliseum. This is due to the fact that the Rams share the field with the USC football team and the NFL Shield does a better job at covering up the USC logo (Source).

As you can see in the picture attached to this LA Times article, even when the conditions are less than ideal for turning around the field, the USC logo at midfield is the least visible aspect from the previous night's USC game.

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  • Now that you mention LA Rams, I'm wondering about the LA Chargers. Do they have their logo on their field? – alamoot Nov 22 '17 at 23:26
  • @alamoot Yes, they do. The Chargers share their field with the LA Galaxy of Major League Soccer. Since soccer fields have relatively simple paint jobs and are much wider than an NFL field, there isn't as much cover-up work needed as there is between the NCAA and NFL teams. – GB11 Nov 22 '17 at 23:40
  • I believe that during the NCAA season, Heinz Field has no logo (as it is home to both the Pitt Panthers and the Pittsburgh Steelers. During December and playoffs, the Steelers' logo is at midfield – Matthew Barclay Jul 1 '18 at 14:49
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Those are the only two. The two mentioned, plus L.A. Coliseum as currently used by the Rams.

The end zones at Metlife can be (somewhat) easily removed so the team logo for the playing team is displayed. But the time and effort to do the same on the center is prohibitive.

For the Panthers, it was apparently such a big deal for Carolina to get the franchise that the owner Jerry Richardson put it there as a way of thanking the NFL. The placement of the shield seems to be his personal decision. In an ESPN Story, he's quoted:

We have the NFL logo on the 50-yard line for reasons we have talked about before -- we want to reemphasize to our fans that this is NFL football and not something else

The sources I used probably predated the Rams move to L.A. and did not mention their current (2017) usage of the L.A. Coliseum. I missed that one and as GB11 points out, there's no team logo there.

As the new Los Angeles stadium is also planned to be used by two teams. We'll have to wait for the opening to see if it will be similar to Metlife or if they have something else in mind.

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