Is this something that Cabagra covers in his Lettering, Logo, and Font Bible?

Page 191.

Thanks, James. Time to invest in a copy anyway I imagine.

Here are some other tutorials I have found, guess I can apply the same routine top and bottom.

http://www.brownbatterystudios.com/sixthings/2008/11/11/arched-text-an-i...
http://www.fireworksguruforum.com/index.php?showtopic=15253

This will get me started.

The effect is called an Envelope: rather easy to achieve in CorelDraw, but only arrived by convoluted means in Illustrator...

Thanks Nick, envelope distort, all sounding familiar. Helpful to have the proper terms for the purpose of searching online. Which version of CS do you have? Might it have made it's way into later versions?

James, which edition of the book are you referring to, or is it in both? Amazon is offering me two copies (I'm tempted by the black edition because it is more modest looking) but I think the turquoise-salmon gradient one is the latest!

The two editions look to be the same from the preview.

I have CS3. AFIK, the Effects > Warp is the way Illustrator handles Envelopes, and the options are limited, whereas CorelDraw's Envelope function allows complete user control over the finished product, rather than trying to force you to choose among preset options.

As far as Cabarga's book is concerned, go for cheap (used copies may be available at alibris.com or abebooks.com). Some of the information is useful, but a lot of it is out of date, ca. 2011.

In the first link I posted above the author is using Inkscape, anyone have any experience of that? It seems to deal with the task fairly easily, at least before touching up.

You can use custom envelopes in Illustrator too:
http://corriehaffly.wordpress.com/2007/05/25/using-envelope-distort-in-i...

Use Warp Text in PhotoShop at a high resolution if you want to do it Quick and Dirty, otherwise it is not that hard to do in Illustrator CS5.

Here it is in Illustrator

I think bulge with negative bend is the easiest way to get a rough version, pre tweaking.

Anyone think of any similar fonts to the Spalding logo?

Thanks all, you have been a massive help.

Perhaps I could start with some kind of Clarendon?

Illustrator-- Object>Envelope Distort>Make With Mesh will give even more freedom than Effect>Warp if you take a little time to understand the skill. I often start with a 1X1 mesh and then add points as I need them. Using a fine grid to match your handles helps too, when you need to be precise.

Not exactly what your sample looks like but …

I think a sporty no-nonsense slab like Soho or Unit Slab could do the job:
http://www.fonts.com/FindFonts/detail.htm?productid=228388
http://www.fontshop.com/fonts/downloads/fontfont/ff_unit_slab_ot_collect...

(unless you’re aiming for that vintage feel of course)

I think the logo in the example is, however, a hybrid three-dimensional effect. First, the letters away from the center are stretched to compensate for foreshortening, and then they're placed on a curved surface with perspective.

That may require the use of a program with 3D modeling capabilities.

This would be my approach - 100% Illustrator, no 3D software required.

First, let's agree that the arch distortion below and above the text are equal.

http://i.imgur.com/defxo.png

I approximated Clarendon Bold off the top of my head as a close visual match. Curving the type will squeeze the x-height (as I will demonstrate in the next few steps), but we can remedy that with a slight tweak.

http://i.imgur.com/0qNy1.png

Extending the height of our type to match the min. and max. height of the logotype helps compensate for the size reduction in the middle characters after we apply our bulge.

http://i.imgur.com/Bd8k5.png

So now that we have our nice, tall text...

http://i.imgur.com/rBHuj.png

let's jump into Illustrator Effects>Warp>Bulge.

http://i.imgur.com/ESvIO.png

Tweak your settings. I like to overlay my text so I can get visual confirmation that I did it right.

http://i.imgur.com/01Da4.png

And with that, voila!

http://i.imgur.com/Ds7w8.png

100% Illustrator.

Thanks robbysalz, appreciated.

I will combine some of these ideas most likely, so thanks to all who posted.