MJD7

4 hours ago, Brave-Bird 08 said:

So, Braves are at the Mariners tonight...

 

Atlanta is once again in their grey road uniforms, which they have worn in every road game so far this season (14 for 14). No sign of the "new" blue alternates that they wore for the duration of spring training. 

 

And the Ms might be showing why; they are in blue tops and there's a distinct difference between the blue in their caps and the shirts. 

 

Both the Braves shirts from ST and Mariners shirts I am looking at tonight are a lighter shade of navy and in certain lighting almost look purple. The difference between them and the blue of the New Era caps is annoying. 

 

I wonder if the Braves have resisted wearing theirs for that reason? 

 

UPDATE: I just looked at the Braves shop and they don't even have the blue jerseys to purchase unless it's a youth or women's. I wonder if they have officially canned them already?

The Mariners have had that problem long before the new Nike template, they've used the "dark" navy for their caps and the "light" navy for their jerseys.

Other teams that use navy, like the Rays, Brewers, Guardians, and Red Sox,  have always matched their caps and jersey to either the light or dark navy.

The Twins used to have the same problem as the Mariners, but they fixed it with their rebrand. 

I'm pretty sure the Braves had always used the darker navy, but for some reason went to the lighter navy for the jersey with the new Nike template.

It's a bit tough to compare to the hat since the Spring Training hat was red, but the new navy jersey does appear to be a bit lighter. Of course, lighting is always a factor, though. 

The Twins still have their darker navy jersey, though, on the new Nike template, so I'm not sure why Atlanta felt the need to change theirs.

The Rays City Connect (with dark purple instead of black) would make a wonderful basis for a rebrand.

15 hours ago, FiddySicks said:

I do agree that there are elements of these CityConnects that can/will be incorporated into the main sets for some of these teams. But most of those that would really work (your White Sox example is a good one. As are the color additions for some of the teams), and some of the ones that have elements that would work (Colorado, Astros gradient) seem more like alts or slight tweaks. But this is the first one that really feels like it has some legs for a full rebrand, IMO. I don’t agree with you about some teams (Seattle, Angels especially), but some of that is probably my personal tastes. The only other one of these I’ve seen that really hit me in a good way was the Royals. But even that I don’t think is enough to supplant what they’re already wearing. Parts of this Rays set absolutely do, for me anyway. 
 

The Rays are also a perfect candidate for a change, too. Their look is dreadfully boring IMO, and I’m hoping they brighten it up a bit with this new stadium they’re exploiting from the taxpayers building. 

Yeah, that makes sense. I see what you're saying now, that this is the first City Connect that could work as the basis for a complete rebrand, as opposed to an evolution of the current brand. Pretty much all of the examples I listed are evolutions of the team's primary brand, while the Rays' has nothing to do with the post-2008 brand, and everything to do with the throwbacks.

I love the navy, columbia, and yellow as a color scheme, but I do think it's about time for the Rays to rebrand and go back to the throwback colors. Their current logo set and uniforms are just way too uninspiring to carry an otherwise really pleasant color scheme.

57 minutes ago, FiddySicks said:

Yeah, this is by far my favorite of the CityConnect project. It’s not perfect by any means, but it has something that basically none of these other goofy ass uniforms have, and that’s something they could potentially use in their regular set. It’s amazing that it took nearly 2/3 of the league unveiling these before we got that, but that bridge logo (and frankly, those colors) should be the cornerstones for a rebrand. 

I actually think a surprising amount of the City Connects so far have elements that would improve on the primary brand. Just to go through them one-by-one:

• I've long thought the Diamondbacks should have sand road uniforms, and the "Serpientes" set pulls that look off really well.
• The pinstripes on black look wonderful  for the White Sox, I'd be happy to see the Southside uniform become a permanent part of their set.
• I love the mountain on the front of  the jersey for Colorado, I think it works great as an alternate look. The forest green could afford to be included in their main set, too, it's definitely better than black.
• The Astros incorporating the warm gradient in the striping and using the "NASA" font would improve their safe but bland set, in my opinion. The cap logo is fantastic as well.
• The Royals' fountain-inspired logos aren't necessarily better than their main ones, but they'd be perfectly suitable logos if they were a brand new expansion team.
• Pretty much everything about the Angels' City uniform is an improvement on their main set, in my opinion.
• Miami using brighter colors is how they should handle their main set, although the new blue jersey is a step in the right direction.
• The Brewers having a powder blue jersey, and
• the Pirates having a gold jersey are both welcome additions to their sets.
• I think Seattle's wordmark and trident M would be a wonderful place to start a rebrand. 
• And with the Rays, I agree that the colors and logos would be a nice start for a rebrand, definitely at least better than their primary set.

I was not optimistic about the City Connect program at all  when it was announced, it seemed like a cheap NBA copy (which, as far as the original premise goes, it still sort of is). However, a large majority of the designs so far have been pleasantly surprising for me, not leaning too  far into the city aspect, still retaining some key components of each team's main identity. 

Tampa Bay Rays City Connect

These last couple City designs haven't really given me much worth changing! I just traded out the sunburst for the pelican logo.

1 minute ago, SFGiants58 said:

Now I want one of those!

 

The jerseys need to be more legible, but the whole graphics package is such a breath of fresh air compared to the current Rays set. It’s derivative of the ‘90s – but it’s still very good.

I've never been a fan of the Rays' original wordmarks (other than the gradient), but if they're going to double down on them like this, they might as well go back to that look full-time. It's at least better than the Times New Roman-esque font they have now. 

I honestly really like the Rays' City Connect! I was surprised to see from the sock leak that they appeared to be digging back into the well of the gradient and throwback font, but they integrated it in a way that makes this still feel distinct. The gradient looks great as always, it honestly might even look a bit better without yellow. 

The logo set is all-around phenomenal and really fun, which is especially fascinating because in my opinion, beyond the actual stingray itself, the Rays had never really had a good logo. The "SkyRay" logo is especially brilliant, and the pelican logo is nice, too.

Even living in Florida, I did not know about Tampa's prominent skating culture. Like @Chawls said, this design does a great job of educating the general public on Tampa's civic culture and pride. Although the "black shirt weathered in the Florida sun" Nikespeak sounds silly at first, from experience, it honestly does make sense.

My one concern, as others have expressed, is legibility, especially on the numbers. The outline is definitely a bit thin, as @Lights Out noted, but they also appear to have remedied that on the wordmark by having a "double gradient:"

If you look closely, the wordmark actually has two gradient outlines going in opposite directions, so that the brighter shades outline pretty much the entirety of the wordmark one way or another, making it more visible. However, the numbers don't appear to do the same, so the relatively darker purple of the outline causes the numbers to get lost towards the top. I guess we'll have to wait and see how they look in a game, although I can't say I'm optimistic.

Overall though, this is among the upper echelon of City Connect designs for me, right up there with the Angels, White Sox, and Mariners. After a rough start with Philly, things are on an upswing with the Mets and Rays, I'd say.

2 hours ago, JohnnyCowboy5 said:

Does anyone know when Rays jersey being showing off at?

The team store opens at 2:00 PM tomorrow, so it’ll be at or before then.

22 hours ago, TruColor said:

So - this new lighter Blue (officially designated as "H-Town Blue Light") is NOT the same shade as the old Oilers/Titans Columbia Blue/Titans Blue. Probably the reason the NFL said to go ahead with this. Original Columbia Blue on left, new H-Town Blue Light on right:

 

  

This makes sense. From  the moment the Texans started teasing the "H-Town blue," it looked more Panthers/Chargers electric blue to me than it did Titans/Oilers baby blue. I like it, I think it works for them.

The brighter red is also huge, part of the reason I think the outgoing set looked so drab was that the "Battle Red" was fairly dark. Going with a brighter candy-paint-inspired red will help with that a lot.

It's also interesting that the Lions apparently did not change their Honolulu blue shade, as it looked a bit brighter than previous versions, even in that one photo which offered a direct comparison. 

I do wonder if they could've pulled off using both royal and  navy in more of a cobalance, instead of relegating royal to a barely visible accent, beyond the throwbacks. I'd at least appreciate the ambition more than what they rolled out with.

I think it'd make sense for the snowcap of the mountain to remain white, if that's possible.

This series seems very adventurous so far, I appreciate your creativity & willingness to try new ideas, as that's something I often struggle with. Just some comments on each of the teams so far:

• Arizona: I love the "Copper State" alternate, just as I did in your previous series.
• Atlanta: I also really dug the red & neon look for the Hawks, but I'm not sure how I feel about it for the Falcons. Maybe it could work as an accent to a helmet stripe (like they used to have a bit of gold in their stripe), but as the main color of the logo besides black it's a bit distracting.
• Baltimore: I actually don't hate the lavender-to-black-back-to lavender gradient of the alternate, it makes sense with the shimmering of a raven's feathers. I'd be curious to see how something like that would look in real life.
• Buffalo: The Bills traditional-style set works really well for them, but if they ever decided to go the more "modern" route, this would be about perfect. The "Blizzard Bills" alternate is really fun.

Looking forward to seeing the rest!

• Guardians: I dig it! I've always had a tough time coming up with a good striping pattern to use for Cleveland, but this is a good one for them. The "The Land" uniform is really nice too.
• White Sox: Another hit! The transition of the City Connect-style into the primary set is a natural choice, and the change from three stripes to two is an upgrade. The alternate gray and "Southsiders" uniforms are incredibly sharp too.

Can't wait to see what else you have in store!

Honestly, given what was said in the lead-up to this unveiling, things came out surprisingly tame for the Texans. I think they’re about a lateral move from their previous set, more ambitious but less consistent. Still, they’re not as inconsistent as they were made out to be beforehand, it’s definitely not 4 completely different designs, but more like 2 separate designs split across 4 jerseys. 
 

Pros

• I really like the horn stripes, both on the jersey and helmet. It feels like a nice update of the USC design that’s now unique to them.
• The number font honestly looks pretty nice, judging by @DCarp1231’s picture, definitely better than it seemed in the original leak. A solid update of the old font. 
• I like the red “candy paint” helmet, I just wish the facemask was navy so that the horn could flow into it easier.
• The “H-Town” set honestly isn’t bad at all, the helmet seemed goofy at first but works within the rest of the uniform, even though I’d still prefer the H-Town variant of the bull logo. I’d also like to see a bit more of the H-Town blue present in the actual uniform. I will say, this design balances the 3 colors way better than the Titans do. 

Cons

• I still hate perforated numbers, and the Texans joining the Rams on the “Fruit Roll-Up” numbers bandwagon.
• The home navy leaves a lot to be desired, I could honestly see a lot of people wondering what changed. The double-logo on the sleeves & helmet is a downgrade from the previous version. 
• I don’t love the increased navy-heaviness of the away jersey, but it’s growing on me.

Interestingly, for this uniform season I’d say we got a huge upgrade (Lions), a couple lateral moves where one is a slight upgrade (Jets) & the other is a slight downgrade (Texans), and a huge downgrade (Broncos). One of every possibility across the spectrum.

I'm surpised at the amount of people saying this new Broncos set is an upgrade over the outgoing one. Sure, the previous uniforms probably stuck around a few years or so past their welcome, but I simply cannot envision this new design having nearly the same amount of staying power. 

I was a bigger fan than most of the "narrative uniform" trend, where each design element has a unique reasoning and explanation behind it ("Nike-speak," in not as many words), but that trend feels very much of the 2010's. Most other teams nowadays are ditching those identities for something more traditionally-based, with maybe the slightest of modern twists. While the '97 set was ahead of its time, this set feels like it's about 10 years too late. 

I didn't necessarily love the '97 set or anything, I was about ready for it to go, but pretty much everything in these new uniforms is a downgrade for me. I loved the outgoing number font, it was distinctly Broncos yet clearly readable, that could've stayed their font forever. The new helmet stripe and the sleeve design are both very strange; the helmet gives very clear Seahawks vibes, while I can't help but see the Chargers logo on the sleeves. The fading triangles in the numbers had a surprisingly fitting explanation, but I still don't like perforations. The pant stripe sort of jives with the sleeve, but not entirely. The combinations all matching the pants with the socks don't make me feel much better about the whole thing either.

I'm not usually ever a "they should just revert to the throwbacks & call it a day" kind of a person, but this is one situation where they really could have gone back to the Orange Crush (although I would have preferred the 60's look), updated a few things, and it would've been a really solid redesign. This reminds me of the Rams' rebrand where the solution was truly so simple & they just tried to do too much.

For what it is, I honestly really like the Mets' City Connect. A bit more purple would certainly be nice, but the shade they're using really pops where it is used. I'm really surprised they didn't go with matching pants, but given the general disapproval many have had of dark pants, I suppose it makes sense. I'm also surprised they didn't mention the 1910's New York Giants as inspiration, as they shared a similar color scheme. For that reason, I think this set really works as a nice "sub-brand" for the Mets.

New York Mets City Connect

Off of first impression, I honestly think this City jersey works really well for the Mets, so I didn't really make any changes.

I haven't gotten to look through the thread yet, but as I imagine others are saying, I really like the Lions new uniforms. I didn't think they really needed a redesign, as I thought their previous uniforms were really solid, even near-perfect. However, every change they made with this new set, besides the block numbers (I'm gonna be partial to custom fonts 9 times out of 10), looks to be an upgrade, surprisingly. To expand on my thoughts:

Pros:

• I really dig the new striping pattern. It's a nice combination of the Northwestern stripe and the Mustang dual-stripe. My one minor gripe is that I wish the border blue stripes were a bit thicker, ideally the same width as the inner white stripe.
• The Honolulu facemask really pops, it looks great. 
• I like that they're trying to lean more into silver as opposed to a flat gray. I'm normally not a fan of reflective materials on football jerseys, but it works really well here in the sleeve stripes & number trim.
• I wasn't really a fan of black for the Lions, one thing I really liked about the 2017 redesign was that they got rid of it. However, this new black alternate looks awesome. The blue helmet really pops with the black accents; as I'm sure others have said, this should've been a look that the Panthers have.

Cons:

• I don't like the perforated numbers at all. This seems to be Nike's newest trend, with the Cardinals having it last year and it making its way across MLB.
• I normally like wordmarks on the chest, but I think the new Vapor F.U.S.E. template just forces them to be too low. The home looks nice without one, but the away looks a little awkward.
• As much as I don't like the removal of the stripes on the pants, I get why they did it for the blue pair at least, so they could wear it with the black jersey, without the stripes mismatching. However, I don't see why the white and black pants needed to go stripeless. 
• Although I like the black jersey, it's a bit of a strange decision to go with a white Nike swoosh & nameplate, when silver or Honolulu blue would've worked just as well.

Overall, this is a very pleasantly surprising update. I didn't think they could improve much on the previous set (before the Color Rush & white pants shenanigans), but they really managed to.

I'm a bit late, since we seem to be moving on to the Lions, but as I believe I said when the Jets confirmed they were going back to the Sack Exchange jerseys, it's pretty much a lateral move for me, maybe a slight upgrade because the lack of black on the primary home & away.

I'm surprised they updated the logo, it seemed like they were  gonna go straight throwback with everything. I'm not yet sure how I feel about the new jet, it looks a bit more like a jet but it also makes it look "slower."

I'm looking forward to seeing the Lions, but I'm not sure the teaser tells us much yet, though. I'll probably have more to say after the official reveal.

54 minutes ago, burgundy said:

The Mets hat with the bridge has the same sticker. But it's pretty easy to move a sticker from one hat to another. They conveniently did not get the actual tag in frame for either hat. The designs on the under-brim are a dead giveaway that those are CC fashion caps. On-field hats have a black under-brim, just like the regular hats. The Tigers' on-field hat could be very similar, but that one's not it.

The Phillies’ City Connect cap has a pattern underneath the brim, so it’s not unprecedented for an on-field City Connect hat to have it.

If anything, all of the attention given to the inside of the hat adds credence to it being the official on-field hat, in my opinion.

This is the slippery slope I feared when it came to the allowing for alternate helmets. Two helmets was pushing it, but it allowed for fun throwback designs like the Bucs and Seahawks. But a third helmet design feels unnecessary for pretty much every team. At this point, they might as well allow teams to have as many helmets as they want, like it's college (not that I would endorse that).

I wouldn't say I'm a hardcore traditionalist by any stretch, but the one-helmet-rule was a nice limitation that kept brands intact for the limited 17-game season and elevated helmets to a central component of the brand. Now, I can't think of any team with two helmets that would benefit from a third one.

I'm so glad to see you're going through with this! And I'm honored that I could be an inspiration for it, as your original baseball series is one of my favorites that I took a lot of inspiration from myself! 

Boston looks great, I especially love the "Fenway Heritage" uniform, I wish that was one I could've come up with myself. I'm looking forward to following the rest of the series!

As expected, I don't really have much positive to say about Philly's City Connect. The cap is pretty nice I suppose. 

I'm still really excited for the rest of the reveals to come.

I also just wanted to note that I updated the images throughout the thread, most of it was just updates to the backgrounds for improved contrast, with a few small tweaks here & there. You can see the most updated versions of all of my designs on my portfolio website.

Philadelphia Phillies City Connect

I had this prepared after the Phils' jersey leaked, because to be honest, I didn't find much redeeming about it. 

It might be a near-copy of some earlier Sixers' City designs, but I honestly don't mind, it feels truer to Philly's history.

This is random, but one thing I really appreciate about the City Connect program in MLB so far is that essentially all of the designs still have at least some team-related imagery integrated in one form or another.

I think one of the reasons the NBA’s City program has gone off the rails is that, for most of the designs now, you can barely tell what team it’s for, if at all. I think some of them don’t even have any regular team logos or share the main color scheme.

I’m honestly really excited for all of the reveals this year. (Not so much the Phillies tomorrow, just because, assuming the leak is real, that looks to be the worst City jersey so far, in my opinion).