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A new court design featuring a full-color version of UA’s iconic cactus-sunset logo along the center baseline won the contest by receiving just 18 votes more — 0.1% of the total 17,788 votes — than a watermark design featuring a silhouette of the cactus logo.

ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV officials said the winner received 7,115 votes (40%) while the watermark cactus version received 7,097 (39.9%). Two other designs featuring smaller cactus logos were much less popular.

Tony Daniel, UA’s senior associate AD for revenue generation and engagement, said plenty of other fans also voiced passionate opinions for other modifications.

“At the end of the day, they just wanted the (cactus) representation back in some form or fashion,� Daniel said. “We gave everybody a lane.�

UA opened the voting to anyone responding to their social media posts while Daniel said the athletic department also reached out directly via email the 300,000 or so fans in its database.

The voting opened on Monday and closed Wednesday morning, the court design will be in place next season. Arizona typically resurfaces the McKale Center floor every other year, or more often if logo changes are made, such as when the Wildcats moved from the Pac-12 to the Big 12 last summer.

Soon after the voting opened, UA officials received a wave of feedback.

“When we put it out, fans were very excited and it created a lot of conversation,� Daniel said. “They’d say ‘You should take a little bit of this’ and ‘put in this or that,’ and so on. From that perspective, that’s what we wanted. It was their choice — and some fans wanted (the full color) and others just missed.�

Daniel said UA went through 20 to 25 designs in collaboration with university marketing staffers, with the university’s signature “Block A� branding center court in all versions.

All designs at what is officially known as “Lute and Bobbi Olson Court� also included at least a smaller version of Olson’s signature, two Big 12 logos and four sponsor logos.

The two least-popular floor prototypes featured only small cactus logos outside the free-throw lanes with an Olson signature logo along the center sideline. One of those designs, both of which featured dark wood outside the 3-point lines, also featured the outline of the state of Arizona around the Block A.

The version that added the state outline finished third with 2,490 votes (14%) while the one without the outline finished last with 1,086 votes (6.1%).

Aside from the large full-color cactus logo near the center sideline, the winning choice features Olson signatures next to each free-throw lane, while Big 12 logos are inside each lane. Four sponsor panels are also featured.

While the winning design features a full-color version of the cactus sunset, the logo omits the traditional red-lettered word “ARIZONA� underneath it because Daniel said it did not fit the space well with a large cactus and sunset. The silhouette version did have the “ARIZONA� label but it was able to be larger because part of the cactus watermark disappeared under the Block A.

The original cactus logo grew synonymous with the Olson era, then was removed in 2009-10 when Sean Miller took over the Wildcats. It has returned in recent years to various UA gear, including coaches’ sweaters and football helmets, but has been kept off the floor for 16 seasons.

Just before the voting was finalized, Arizona AD Desireé Reed-Francois said on a UA podcast that “I like the cactus,� without specifying which design, and noted how she recalled the logo’s impact from her days attending UA’s law school in the 1990s.

“That cactus logo meant something and was unique to Tucson,� she said. “I wanted to make sure our fans’ voices were heard, and we listened to them.�