WideRight

This.

Looks a bit like the Kansas City Recorders. Would the new fight song be "Hot Cross Buns"? No, seriously, the spear is very thin and I am not sure what the stripes on it represent. I would also say that the tip looks less like a spearhead (see FSU) than a directional arrow from wingdings. Sorry, but it does not read as a spear.

Well, my Switchbacks made the cut, but not so sure about that new logo. I will wait and see.

Next up the 2nd of 3 Texas teams, Dallas...er...Arlington. TWEAKS: 1. OK, clearly I am split on the city name here. In my opinion Arlington only exists as a suburb of Dallas, and since the logo they want to use is clearly a D+R monogram, I would go with Dallas as the city name. 2. Not a fan of the plain white DR monogram on the blue helmet, so I switched it to black and red. 3. Went back to the 2020 striping. 4. I also really dislike the actual number font, but wanted to keep the thin red line in the middle of the numbers, so I just went with a blockier font. 5. Decided to go halfway between the 2020 shoulder yoke look and the weird "overall straps" they have now. 6. They have that great "renegade" logo, so they need to put it on the uniforms, so it is now on the sleeve. 7. As always, no unitard, so blue pants only with white jersey, black pants with either.

Gonna throw one more former XFL team out here today. The Tweaks: 1. The big one is fixing the helmet. I am not a fan at all of the 3-color design, way too gimmicky. 2. For the Jerseys, I wanted to get rid of the weird yoke with the cutouts in the front. Just went with more of a Titans style yoke, again using the oil slick effect as on the pants and the numbers. 3. No unitard, white over white, white over blue, blue over white, that is it. 4. Added the 2nd logo to each sleeve. 5. Increased the size of the H logo on the helmet.

I have to agree. Among the worst current trends in football design are: white socks with no stripes colored socks with no stripes or white lower section pants with no stripes or logos helmets with the logo on one side and number on the other the unitard and the eternal scourges of bad number fonts, overuse of the yoke or side panel on jerseys, and adding either black, grey, or camo designs for no reason. Now, you punk kids, get off my lawn.

Next up is the first of the XFL Teams, and the one with the fewest tweaks needed. The Tweaks: 1. Decided to get rid of the primary logo alltogether. The secondary logo (pentagon) and the sleeve logo (DC as flag) are both better than the primary (C+star inside D), so why not lean into those two? 2. Pentagon logo on helmet and collar. Sleeve logo stays the same. 3. Put stripes on the pants, a no-brainer. 4. Also added stripes to socks, instead of all red or all white (hate that look) 5. No unitards. White pants with red jersey and vice versa. I will allow white over white if the temperature is over 85, but never red over red.

One more from the "does not need much" group. Birmingham So what did I change? 1. Returned to the 22-23 pant striping with the tapered stripe to match the helmet. 2. Decided to add a bit of flare to the numbers, Viking style, sort of. 3. Team monogram on the collar, name on the chest. That is about it. pretty minor changes.

OK, working from the idea that I am tweaking the designs, not overhauling them, here is my first revision, Memphis. Notes to follow. The changes are: 1. Made the yoke thinner, so that the UFL and UA logos do not require the weird cutouts from the yoke color. 2. Added tapered stripes to the shoulders to match the helmet and pants. 3. Tapered the blue stripe on the pants as well, not just the yellow. 4. Added a blue pant set, to be worn with the white jersey because I hate the unitard look (no blue over blue over blue). That is about it.

So I caught parts of all 4 games this week and, as expected, there were several uniform elements that just made me cringe. But I thought that overall, with just a few tweaks, some minor, some a bit larger, the UFL could be a good looking league. So, I thought I would throw those tweaks out for you to comment on. I am starting with the helmets and will then hopefully get to the uniforms. Here are the 8 helmets with the tweaks I would make. TWEAKS: ARLINGTON: Make the DR logo black with red and return to the striping from 2020. HOUSTON: My biggest eye roll is for the Houston helmets. Just go solid navy with the logo on both sides. Just to do something flag-related I put in a tapered stripe with the Lone Star. SAN ANTONIO: Really no changes here except I opted to go with a darker facemask. I picture black being part of the color scheme along with charcoal and yellow. ST. LOUIS: I like the arch-stripe, but I prefered the original 2020 blue helmet and the more curved wing pattern, so a blend of 2020 and 2023. DC: Just swap out the D logo for the pentagon & lightning logo and I think this works. Love the marble effect for DC. MICHIGAN: The only tweak needed is to return to the original colors with a lighter champagne gold and a darker, more purplish burgundy. BIRMINGHAM: I like the larger logo and thinner stripe this year, so no changes here. MEMPHIS: Another helmet that pretty much works. Next up are uniforms, again, trying to improve them with as minor an adjustment as I can make, but I can say that some of the striping/yokes, particularly for former XFL teams are not going to make the cut.

Yup, Boston lost the Breakers back in the late 80's, got the Atlanta Fire to move in the early 2000's and then lost that team to Dallas in 2013. The problem is that Robert Kraft will not let the USFL use Gilette Stadium, so they cannot find a decent stadium to play in, lose a lot of revenue and have trouble being profitable compared with other franchises.

Just realized I had not posted these design options for Dallas's franchise yet. It has been revealed that the 2009 League Champion Boston Cannons are the club that has been sold to Mark Cuban and his Dallas investment group. They will relocate and play the 2013 season as the Dallas Roughnecks. There is currently a poll on the USFL Alt History Website (The USFL Lives) to pick the color combo and uniforms for the team. Here are the three options, with notes in each image outlining where the inspiration comes from for each.

Weird Idea: What if the horns on the sleeves of the uniform that has been leaked are not the same on the back as the front. What if they actually extend across the entire back to form one huge set of longhorn horns, with the player name in white within the center of the two horns (blue)? Hmmm.. that may be worth a concept.

And yet, and this is amazing, no pro sports teams called Bulldogs. Wildcats too (not counting 2020 XFL). Some of the most common college/HS names are out there: Eagles, Falcons, Colts, Tigers, Rams, but not Bulldogs, Mustangs, Wildcats.

Gotta disagree. Too much black in CFL already. I am still a fan of this ""vintage" look from the 80's

I was wondering that as well. Is it just the Nike swoosh or is there a red nougaty center inside the blue horn?

Back with the next team. So far I had only offered one AFC North team, the Browns, so here is their Ohio state bestie, ok, their rival, Cincinatti. This is largely based on a design I did back in 2020. I added the all white look (notice no orange at all), because the Bengals got it about half right IRL.

A few thoughts: MEM: I like the addition of grey to their palette. Works well with the blue & gold. ARL: I might try to keep some version of the yoke, since you pretty much have all 8 teams using standard sleeve stripes, which made sense in 1983 but is not really aligned with the current cut of jerseys without sleeves. The 2020 version of the Renegade jersey worked pretty well with a yoke and shoulder stripe combo. HOU: Here I would look at using different sleeve colors, again like 2020. Either that or some form of striping that makes use of the "oil slick" effect from the 2023 uniforms. STL: One of very few improvements from 2020 to 2023 was turning the sword stripe on the Battlehawk helmet into a stripe that resembled the Gateway Arch. I think even with a blue helmet that would make sense. DC: I like the return to the lightning motif on the sleeves and pants. But why a single stripe on the helmet. Perhaps no stripe is needed? SAN: I like the pant and shoulder stripes. Not sold on the white helmet. Overall an improvement over the XFL style we see IRL.

And the Bills, with a new alt idea. BUFFALO BILLS NOTES 1. Most of the current look stays, with just a few tweaks and a wild new alt. 2. Removed the last vestiges of navy from the horrible 2000's. 3. Decided to update the wordmark a bit with a script "Buffalo", which will appear on the jerseys. 4. Kept the white facemask and the slightly widening helmet stripe. 5. Did the same effect to the pant stripe, slightly widening at the hip. 6. Created a new secondary logo from the script "B" and the front of the Bills logo. 7. White on white is possible, blue over blue should not be done. 8. Decided that we are assuming all teams have a standard throwback look, so no need to go the red helmet or standing buffalo look. Instead decided to lean into the snowy weather and go with a white over white over white look with only thin red and blue piping. It would certainly be different. Might drive the announcers crazy to try to read numbers. OK, on to a new division.

Decided to finish up the AFC East. Starting with the Fins. I doubt I will change much for the Bills as I love their current look. MIAMI DOLPHINS NOTES; 1. Went back to the logo from the late 90's, which I think was their finest, far better than the airline logo they use now. 2. Also opted to keep the navy blue added at that time. 3. Jersey is heavily based on pre-2000's look, with logos on the sleeves and the cuff being the only striping. 4. Opted for a motif of a thick main stripe with two thinner stripes, one of which is always Navy. 5. Miami can go white over white in the hotter months, but should never go aqua over aqua. 6. Wanted to do something other than invert the colors for the alt uniform. Not sold on the ombre effect as the right thing.

Moving on to the NFL East. We have already seen my Eagles' concept. Now we have 2 more division rivals, each with their own challenges. NEW YORK GIANTS NOTES The Giants may seem an easy team to peg. Their look has been pretty simple and pretty classic for a long time, but the key is how you combine elements. I decided to combine elements of the current look (helmet) with elements of the Simms/Taylor era (sleeve & pant stripes). I also wanted to have both logos "NY" and "Giants" somehow involved. So, ended up going with the NY helmet and using the Giants wordmark on the chest. I am not feeling confident about the alternate look, but I did not want to just do another throwback. I wanted a different helmet color and a design that would clearly not be just a rehash of past designs. White over white over white may not be ideal for the Giants, but it is at least different enough to clearly be an alternate. DALLAS COWBOYS NOTES The challenge with Dallas is not so much the design, a pretty consistent stripe pattern and overall look. The problem is the colors. Two very different blues, up to 3 kinds of silver, and they don't all go with each other at all. So, I decided to basically follow what they sort of do now, having a darker blue for the dark jersey, pants, and socks on the darker set, and using the brighter royal blue on the white jersey and with the pants on the white set. I have both colors in the helmet stripe, but stil think it might look odd as the only bright royal element with their dark set. What I also did was limit the team to one silver color, and opted for the somewhat unique greenish silver from the home pant set as the only silver. That may make the helmet again a bit odd, but I think overall it works. For the Alt I went with elements of past throwbacks. A white helmet, navy jersey with white yolk and white pants. Not exactly the look from any of their throwbacks, but something of an homage to lots of past looks. Next up is the Commanders, and I will keep that name because we just don't know what the new ownership is really going to do there.

I agree that the alarm clock numbers were a huge issue, but I also really did not like the "pewter" shoulders on that Bucs design. For me, when you try to do pewter in a non-metallic material like jerseys or pants it just comes out looking like a muddy grey, like dirty dish water. Some colors just don't work if you don't have the metallic finish (dazzle fabric). I point to the current UFL Stallions and Panthers. Without a metallic sheen champagne and Stallion gold just turn into khaki, and khaki rarely works as a good uniform color.

OK, a major drop as I completed the three remaining NFC south teams over the weekend. Most needed only minor tweaks. Only Atlanta was a major overhaul. So, we will start with the minor adjustments and then hit the Falcons. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS NOTES 1. Back to gold pants as the norm, and stripes on pants as the requirement. 2. Gold lettering, but i stuck with the lighter, more modern gold. 3. Brought back the Louisiana Fleur De Lis secondary as a chest patch. 4. Added numbers to the pants just to try something a bit different. 5. Went for a black over black alternate even though I generally don't like unitards. Striping helps. 6. Revived the old shield logo and use it at the base of the helmet stripe. TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS NOTES 1. Pretty much their current jerseys/pants but with a new number font. 2. Decided to remove the flag from the logo and just go with the skull & crossbones. 3. Tried out a few alts, but ended up just ensuring that they have a Bucco Bruce creamsicle option. Generally I am assuming that all teams have a throwback look, so my alt uni is not that, but with Tampa Bay, the throwback is so essential that I thought it was the only alt uni they needed. ATLANTA FALCONS NOTES: 1. I know a lot of folks want a straight-up throwback look, but I generally don't. Not for Atlanta. So, I tried to merge some elements of older looks with some new elements. 2. The helmet works for me as black on black. Saving the red option for the alt look. 3. Decided a version of what the NY Jets currently do works better for the Falcons, and I like it more than the side panel stripes on the current jersey. 4. With Atlanta, it is more about taking away bad elements (oversized ATL on front, side panels, ombre jersey, etc.) and going with a more basic but still modern take on a red jersey and silver pants (or black). 5. The Alt is again not a pure throwback, but includes a bit of a mix of old and new in the helmet, then just a black alternate jersey and a white pant set. I could see the Falcons combining these looks in lots of ways (Red helmet w. red jersey and silver pants, all black alt, black jersey and helmet with silver pants, etc.). So, there you go, the entire NFC South is done, as is the NFC West. Next up is likely the NFC East.

That does make sense. I went back and looked at some Dickerson jerseys and that is what it was, so here is a revision.

Having already posted my concepts for the Cards, Niners, and Seahawks, I figured I should wrap up the NFC West with the Rams. NOTES 1. Brought back the St. Louis Ram logo with the new brighter colors. 2. A return again to my youth and the ram horns on the sleeves, now with the split from the current design. 3. Not sure about the home blues having a white horn segment, but the blue just did not make sense. 4. Wide pant stripes, like the 9ers, just works for the Rams' yellow pant set. 5. Decided to go with white numbers on the blue jerseys because otherwise it is a lot of yellow. 6. Added some white highlights to the helmet design, just to add a bit more contrast. 7. The Alt is a fauxback to the days when the Rams were a blue and white team, without the gold. All in all, a design I could see Vince Ferragamo or Eric Dickerson applauding.