The Crusaders' new rugby logo appears to have gone public before the team's scheduled announcement.
The new logo, which seems to have drawn from Māori designs, was put up on the publicly available Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand website as a trademark currently under examination.
Colin Mansbridge said the club believes their new logo and identity reflects the important role they play in their community.
The logo is owned by New Zealand Rugby Union Inc.
The Crusaders have held a press conference discussing the changes, but are refusing to publicly confirm it until 2pm.
The Canterbury Super Rugby franchise along with New Zealand Rugby is making an official announcement on the future of the club's brand at Rugby Park in Christchurch today.
The announcement comes after the team opted for a brand review back in June with some questioning the appropriateness of the current name and logo given the history of the Crusades - a bloody conflict between Muslims and Christians in medieval times - and the recent Christchurch mosque shootings.
NZR chief executive Steve Tew said in April they believed "the current imagery of knights on horseback is no longer tenable".
However, a 1 NEWS Colmar Brunton poll at the time showed more than 75 per cent of Kiwis were against the Crusaders changing their name in response to the March 15 terrorist attacks. Fourteen per cent supported a name change at the time and eight per cent were unsure.
While the "Crusaders" name will stay in 2020, links to the Crusades have been dropped with the logo of a medieval knight brandishing a sword culled last month and the pre-match entertainment of sword-wielding knights on horseback at home games removed earlier this year.
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