Minor League Football - Discussion and Logos

[Artisan219]

Nicely done. I didn't want to really try. With Harrisburg being potentially the affiliate for Philadelphia, Baltimore, or Pittsburgh, I opted to leave that to who so ever wanted it.

[29texan]

Nicely done. I didn't want to really try. With Harrisburg being potentially the affiliate for Philadelphia, Baltimore, or Pittsburgh, I opted to leave that to who so ever wanted it.

With the location of these teams, it was kind of hard to get some of them so I just picked 4 remaining at random.

[Artisan219]

I figured the Pittsburgh/Dakota and Baltimore/Las Vegas connexion was largely random.

Just since I'm awake, I did what I imagine to be my final map. I traded Louisville and Wichita across the divisions to cluster better, but here we are.

Shades of green are the Eastern Division(s)

Shades of blue are the Northern Division(s) (you'll notice how Omaha, Iowa, Dakota, and Wichita make a tight cluster)

Red and purple are the Southern Division(s) (the purple division makes up a block from Kentucky to the Florida panhandle)

Yellow and orange are the Western Division(s)

You may pull your hair out if you try to keep division ties between minor and majors.

[Artisan219]

TUSCON SCAVENGERS

I like the colors here. I was going for a Pueblo kinda scheme.

There is a little issue with the corner of one of the feathers that results in a little white blob, but I didn't feel like opening Illustrator to fix it tonight. Let me know if you see any other errors that I need to smooth out.

I should tell you all now that I am the worst at wordmark logos. If anyone is willing to do one or if you know someone, let me know.

[Artisan219]

SAN ANTONIO SPECTRES

I may play with the colors here a bit more, but I like the black, glow-in-the-dark blue, and charcoal.

[Artisan219]

LAS VEGAS VAMPIRES

I tried to limit myself to one black helmet per division, just so you don't get the idea that all of these are on black backgrounds.

I was playing around with alliteration and this came to me. Avoiding the Dracula/Twilight concepts, I went to the chupacabra angle and made this bat logo. (If my Spanish is on point, and chupacabra literally means goatsucker, than I'm assuming chupa has to mean sucker. I think it makes a good mascot name )

[Artisan219]

GRAND RAPIDS RHINOS

I went at Grand Rapids several times, but ultimately I liked their now-defunct AFL logo. In my research for the city, I read that the climate in Grand Rapids is perfect for blueberries and somehow I ended up with this indigo-heavy palette.

[Artisan219]

ALBUQUERQUE ALIENS

So, yeah, an alien theme for New Mexico. Is it cliché? Yes. Do I care? No. Seriously, how often do you get to make a crop circle logo? Just imagine the giant foam rubber alien mascot outside the stadium.

[Artisan219]

CHESAPEAKE CRUSHERS

For Virginia Beach, I went with a crab, as I could think of little more pertinent to the area than the Chesapeake Blue Crab. Granted, this claw is a lot more robust than the narrow pincers of a blue crab, and the colors could be tweaked as I play with the other concepts within the same division, but I really like this crab design.

I opted for "Chesapeake" because there are a lot of cities in the area. Between Norfolk, Hampton, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Newport News, etc, I figured I'd need a regional name. I don't care for the "Hampton Roads" phrase, though I suppose "Tidewater" could possibly have worked.

Alright, so there are six of my concepts. I have a few more finished and a lot more to go. Some are still very much just in my head. But keep the suggestions coming.

[lancealot]

Tucson, like the colour scheme like the logo no complaints, San Antonio, once again like the color scheme and the logo in most just not a fan of the skeleton, (specters means ghosts right?) Maybey take that out and swap the white in the logo for the blue. Las Vegas, love the logo an colour scheme but not a fan of the bats nose just doesn't look right, grand rapids, that logo is the sex defiantly my favorite colour scheme and mixed with the way that logo is its amazing. Alb I think the green black color scheme is over used for 'ailiens' and I like the idea behind the logo (the crop circle thing) but not the actual logo. Chesapeake, like the logo and color scheme but may be curve the claw more and turn it into a c. Its all really good, good job

[cohenj21]

Love this first set, especially Grand Rapids. Never woulda thought of the crop circle logo for Albuquerque but you pulled it off really well. Looking forward to seeing more

[hockey week]

All of those are really good, especially the Spectres and the Aliens. Both are really really impressive.

[Whittier S]

Wichita Wizards (not in Kansas anymore)

I think the San Antonio concept is pretty clever, myself.

[illwauk]

Suggestions for Milwaukee

Harley Themed:

-Outlaws

-Thunder

-Iron Horses

-Riders

Germanic/Brewing Themed:

-48ers (Wisconsin became a state in 1848 and the first wave of German immigrants to MKE were known as the Forty-Eighters).

-Barons

-Blitz

-Bootleggers (a little minor-leaguish, but I could live with it for a football team)

...you could also call them the Brew City _______ instead of Milwaukee or Wisconsin

Lakefront Themed:

-Gulls

-Breakers

-Muskies

-Whitecaps

"Northern" Themed:

-Stags (would make for an awesome helmet design)

-Icemen

-Wisconsin Knights (sounds like "Wisconsinites")

-Northern Lights

[Artisan219]

Working Concepts (I'm not going to change these unless I get a much better suggestion)

• Columbus Bombers
  
• Milwaukee Monsters
  
• Grand Rapids Rhinos
  
• Louisville Villains
  
• Omaha Hyenas
  
• Long Island Spiders
  
• New Haven Tritons
  
• Chesapeake Crushers (Virginia Beach)
  
• San Antonio Spectres
  
• Memphis Pharaohs (might consider Memphis Phantoms)
  
• Pensacola Pythons (just added Pensacola to the map, so still flexible)
  
• Albuquerque Aliens
  
• Birmingham Mulcibers (Mulciber is another name for Vulcan or Hephaestus, the Greco-Roman gods of fire and forge, the term can apply, in an archaic sense, to any blacksmith)
  
• San Diego Dragons (since the Aztecs play in San Diego, I'm going to make a Meso-American Quetzalcotl dragon)
  
• Portland Primates (gorilla logo to play on the sasquatch legends of the Pacific Northwest and to play on the "green" attitudes of Oregon in general)
  
• Las Vegas Vampires
  
• Salt Lake Lizards (look up "mountain boomer" and you'll see this cool blue and yellow lizards that cover Utah)
  
• Tuscon Scavengers
  

Uncertain Concepts (ideas that work, but I think I can do better)

• Toronto Rogues - thinking of a mammoth logo, as in rogue elephant, but Toronto is a bit odd in terms of symbols. Toronto Towers isn't terrible, but we'll see.
  
• Iowa Warhawks - I have an aviator concept for Columbus and the AFL has the Iowa Barnstormers, so I'd rather come up with something else.
  
• Dakota Demons - I'm just going with alliteration here, but I'm not sure how well a demon logo would work in a largely Christian conservative area of the country.
  
• Oklahoma Cyclones - This is on paper an okay concept, but this is also a college team with a significant following. And, like my Albuquerque Aliens concept, the idea of using a tornado for Oklahoma is overdone and I'd rather see what else might apply.
  
• Louisiana Snappers - This is just the first idea to come to mind. Because Shreveport and Bossier City work as a twin city, I'd rather use the "Louisiana" market than Shreveport, but really whatever best sells the concept will work for me. Also having both "Louisiana" and "Louisville" would make the three-letter team abbreviations somewhat interesting.
  
• Wichita Cheetahs - This is again, just a basic idea, but with the very dominant "ch" sound, I like the alliteration and the wide open state of Kansas lends some credibility for a grassland predator. On the other hand, big cats are so overdone to make my Aliens concept seem original.
  
• Orlando Ogres - I like the alliteration, and Universal Studios is in Orlando, but I have to really wonder if forcing a connexion between minor league football and the Shrek franchise is actually that good of an idea.
  
• Charleston Stingrays - I've been trying to avoid other sports' logo identities and there is a minor league hockey team called the South Carolina Stingrays, and there are the Tampa Bay Rays as well. I suppose Charleston Cannons, work, but that overlaps some other logos too.
  
• Treasure Valley Trikes - Okay, so I just wanted an excuse to make a dinosaur logo. Is that such a crime? Wait, seriously? Fine, you come up with something for Boise.
  

Complete Blanks (I got nothing)

• Harrisburg
  
• Raleigh - I could have used Rogues, but it fits Toronto better so I'm lost. Redtail, maybe. There are a lot of research and chemical firms in the Raleigh-Durham area, but Raleigh Reaction seems to basketball-ish.
  
• Albany
  
• Sacramento (or Central Valley) - Not sold on recycling a Cougars logo from the UFL, but nothing has really struck me yet.
  
• Spokane - Spiders would work, but I'd have to do something else for Long Island and I have some cool uniform concepts going for a Spider-Man knockoff jersey using the Long Island blue and orange. (For those that don't know, Spider-Man is, within the continuity, a resident of Queens.)
  

[cohenj21]

Maybe something cowboy-ish for Boise, or maybe Miners? If you want to do a t-rex, which I think is a good idea, you could do something like Predators.

-Spokane Snowcaps, or something mountain-related

-I think Cougars is good for Sacramento, unless you are against using the UFL idea

-Albany Explorers because of Henry Hudson, or something river-related

-Raleigh Raiders with a pirate theme

-Got me stuck on Harrisburg too, sorry.

See if you like any of these...

[Artisan219]

Haven't come up with much myself.

The only major idea I had to possibly generate some team names was to play with alternate banners:

"Albany" vs "Adirondack" - Maybe the Adirondack Kestrels?

"Harrisburg" vs "Keystone" - Harrisburg is not that far from me, all I know of the area is Hershey chocolate and Three Mile Island. Maybe the Keystone Meltdowns?

"Sacramento" vs "Central Valley" - I'm thinking Sacramento Scorpions, but not sold on that either.

"Shreveport" vs "Louisiana" - Kinda considered the Louisiana Knaves for the gambling industry, but could go either way with that. Could shoot for a Waterboy reference and try Mud Dogs or Mudcats, but there are already enough catfish logos out there. It should go without saying, but I really want to keep away from any and all Confederate symbols, which really cuts down on the options. I had considered the Louisiana Zombies as a joke, but kid-friendly or not, that's actually getting up there at the moment.

Kinda half considering opening up some negotiations on my San Antonio. I really like that ghost horse design, but that could work just as easily as the Oklahoma Ghosts or the Memphis Phantoms. Still, it has been my San Antonio concept almost from the beginning of this project, so not sure I want to go back to the drawing board like that, but I'll throw it out there anyway.

[Whittier S]

Raleigh Knights, since Sir Walter Raleigh was knighted?

Is Harrisburg Captials too obvious? Yeah, I read up on Harrisburg, not a lot of positive things to play off there. :\

[cohenj21]

For Shreveport, I would try Louisiana Aces if you're going for a gambling theme, or Steamboats could also work. Just a couple ideas.

[Artisan219]

Forerunning ideas:

Adirondack Demons in Albany

Dakota Kestrels in Souix Falls

Louisiana Bokors in Shreveport

Considering Spokane (or Keystone) Sentinels