Snoopy MSU fan on U.S. Patent Office website + the Red Cedar Message Board + leaked internal MSU memo + MLive Gang Green Blog = the new Spartan logo on the left right below, expected to be officially unveiled in April.
(Note: I have not read through the RCMB thread(s) on this. Click through to the MLive post for links to all the relevant discussion/evidence.)
Initial thoughts:
1) Too 300ish. The Athletic Department has been using a lot of images of Greek helmets/shields/spears on stuff in the last few years. I guess it's an attempt to play up the brutal, fearless, supermuscular Spartan warrior angle, which is fine. (I like chanting "Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!" on 3rd downs as much as the next guy.) But does trying to make the silhouette looks more like a real metal helmet really accomplish that? And what happens when 300 is no longer the movie with the coolest new computer-generated action scenes? (Oh, wait, that already happened?)
2) Our current logo seems like it's pretty well ingrained in the minds of most college sports fans. I imagine most non-MSU fans will look at the new logo and think, "Must be the San Jose State Spartans." Why give up a well-established image to go with something someone at the Nike headquarters dreamed up (presumably the same people that came up with whatever it is that's on the back of our home basketball jerseys this year)?
3) When most fans think about the Michigan State Spartans, don't they think about Sparty anyway? And it doesn't appear they were going with the other Sparty--the statue version--since the pattern of the ruffly thing on top of the helmet doesn't match. If anything, the current logo--with the mutli-part connector section--is closer to the helmet the statue Spartan is carrying. (Sorry that my knowledge of the technical names for Greek warrior helmet components is so lacking.)
So put me down as a "no" vote.