WideRight

Hi all,

 

Some exciting things coming up in the next few weeks.  Thought I would give you a preview.

 

1. The three teams that will get new designs for 2005 (revealed during the 2004 season) will be Memphis, Michigan, and Washington.    Perhaps not major adjustments for all 3, but at least one will get a pretty big overhaul.  

 

2. I am committing to updating both the Teams website as well as the League History page, so check those out from time to time.

 

3. I am about to announce plans for league expansion from 24 to 28 teams over the next few seasons.  

        The expansion will feature the return of a recently relocated team, a city or 2 getting new teams, and at least 1 brand new city.

 

3.  The two teams joining the league in 2006 will be revealed between the end of the 2004 season and midseason of 2005. 

       I have clear identity designs for both, so no fan votes on these two, but, designs, so that is good. 

 

4. The vote on Boston got such an amazing response that I am planning two big votes that you all can participate in. 

               2006:  Vote on the three bids for a 2008 expansion club.  3 cities, all new to the USFL, with identities in place, 

                                so you are voting on the whole look.  I can tell you now that 1 team is based on a real UFL team, one is

                               based on a WLAF team that is in a new city (Not the WLAF city) and the third pulls its identity from deep

                               in local history with the WFL from the 1970's.  Three new locations but logos from the real world. 

 

4.   In 2007 you will have the chance to vote for the identity of the 4th expansion team, including team names, logos & uniforms.

              I won't reveal the city now, but I can tell you that the three identities are based on real teams and logos from other cities

              that come from the World Football League, the United Football League, and the Canadian Football League.   I am pulling

              indentites from all over the  map and placing them in USFL-appropriate locations.  

 

5. Once we hit the 2010's the relocation/expansion may not be over.  I am picturing 30 teams by 2020.   I am also planning at 

          least 2 potential relocations between now (2003) and 2017.  One impacted by a real world crisis, the other purely ficticious. 

 

6. Finally, one USFL team will have to decide whether or not to retain their current identity when it becomes politically (culturally) 

     problematic.  Think Washington NFL for the model.  Will the team start from scratch or just change one element of their identity        and keep the rest?    You will also get to vote on this.

 

Lots of chances for you to participate, and lots of posts from me as we move from 2003 closer to the present.  

 

Hard to believe I have been working on this project since November of 2020, but that is the case.  By my estimation, we will reach current day sometime in 2024, which means I still have 21 seasons left to play out.  Not sure what I will do after that.  I kinda want to learn how to use Adobe illustrator so that I can start over in 1983 and do more photo manipulation to enhance the visuals.  I want to be able to put players like Brett Favre or Brian Urlacher in USFL uniforms.  We shall see.  If I decide to create a 2nd Alt History, it will certainly be very different from this one (kind of like XFL 1.0 vs. 2.0 vs. 3.0).  But, first things first, 21 seasons left to go. 

 

Also, as a football fan, and more specifically a fan of the Buffalo Bills since the early 1980's, I would ask you to keep Damar Hamlin in your thoughts and prayers.  To support his charity's Go Fund me if you feel so inclined, but to keep him "in the light" as we say at my church.  Truly shocking and tragic, but I am hopeful that he will recover, and live a long healthy life.  

 

If you have not checked out my ongoing alternate history of the 1980's league, one based on a world where they never tried to move to fall and won a massive NFL settlement in their lawsuit, you can check it out (all the way from 2003 back to 1983) at this website.   Thanks to all for your support over these past 2 years. 

 

For now, I offer you an idea I gave up on, so that you at least have something to look at.  2005 designs coming soon. 

 

The Memphis Showboats almost relocated to St. Louis, and I had a contingency if they did.   

 

Had they moved, they would have largely kept the same look, but with two new logos.  You can see in this mock up that I added a new StL monogram as well as a 2005 commemorative patch that combines the paddlewheel with the Gateway Arch.  The uniforms also hint at St. Louis with "Arch" shoulder stripes and on the collar.  This is not happening, but it could very easily have been the direction I took it.  Decided to keep Memphis in Memphis (despite the questionable financial viability of having 2 teams in Tennessee) just because you all wanted it (fan poll) but also because with 20 years behind them, they certainly had the resources to survive, and Nashville is a burgeoning hotspot city so they will support their team as well.    So, here is what could have been, the St. Louis Showboats. 

 

 

So, the short-lived Texas Outlaws logo change is about to be published and I realized I never showed you the full uniform.  When the fans reject the new logo, the older version of the Outlaw will return, but the rest of the uniform will basically stay the same.  

 

So, here is the new look (logo to be determined) for the Outlaws, with a lot of reference points to both San Antonio (Alamo) and Texas (Lone Star).  

 

As promised, here is the full design sheet for the new look of the New Orleans Breakers.  The logo and helmet are the main difference, with the jersey going back to a more traditional 3-stripe pattern. 

 

14 hours ago, Wildcomet said:

A couple that I could see being used at some point...

 

I could see the Orlando Renegades needing a rebrand as the USFL gets into the modern era, so I'd enjoy seeing either the Arena League Predators or AAF Apollos making an appearance. 

 

The Spring League's Linemen logo could be a solid modern update to the Maulers.

 

I like the modern USFL's take on the Philadelphia Stars, so it would be welcome from me to see it show up here at some point.

 

 

I think if you look at my 2001 update of Philly you will see a version of this Stars logo with orange.  Here it is from page 36. 
 

Hi all, a fun feedback opportunity.  Assuming that I will expand the alt history USFL between 2003 and 2023, what is one logo/identity you hope makes it into the league.  It has to be a real logo/brand from a real league but could be from as far back as the WFL. So that means any logo from…

 

WFL

Arena Football

WLAF/NFL Europe

XFL 1.0

UFL

FXFL

AAF

XFL 2.0

USFL 2022

XFL 3.0

 

post a picture of the logo you hope finds its way into the league.  

The evolution of USFL identities continues with the 2004 New Orleans Breakers.  The Breakers decide that their wave pattern was too 1980's and try to update the look with more of a crashing wave focus.  This is not the final version we will see of a Breakers logo, but will be an intermediary stage between two looks.  

 

So, here is the new primary, a new secondary (which you will recognize from the 2022 USFL), and the new helmets. 

 

 

 

 

Next up, the "1 Day" Texas look followed by their final look, and then one more surprise change for 2004 (which honestly won't be very surprising).   Might be until next week before I upload more, but I might produce a NOR design sheet with their new unis this week. 

46 minutes ago, CDCLT said:

Nope, sorry, the Maulers uniforms are great. Houston is the only miss in the USFL.

 

Anyway every single XFL 3.0 team is worse than their 2.0 counterpart. Incredible. I don't really like any of them but I guess Seattle is the best?

 

I am going to partially agree and partially differ on this. 

 

I think Pittsburgh is a solid look.  Not the best, but solid.  I miss the use of grey for steel in the older Mauler identity. 

I think Houston has some issues, but could easily be fixed. 

 

The Breakers, my favorite original USFL Team I see as a miss.  I don't like the helmet logo, which creates a huge navy blue blob on the entire back of the helmet, and not a fan of the wave on the sleeve.  Wave-inspired fine, but I think they went a bit too literal.  

 

But, I am firmly going to say that at least for me the worst New USFL uniform is still way better than the best new XFL uniform.  But, that is me.  I also hate country music and egg salad.  Other people love them. 

I am actually wondering what elements of the new XFL teams might make their way into late seasons of the USFL simulation.  I would say the following elements of the new looks (which I suspect you know I am not overly fond of) could make an appearance:

 

Textured materials (used in more moderation than the XFL is).  Things like snakeskin, dragon scales, the Roughneck oil slick effect, or the DC marble/camo look could be seen in small ways like on collars, cuffs, or pant stripes.  Maybe the odd number here and there. 

 

Some of the number styles I do like.  I like DC's numbers. I like the use of a transitional color on Seattle's numbers (I could see the Thunder having navy numbers with a green to yellow transition in them) and I think the snakeskin black numbers on LV's white jerseys are pretty effective.  Not all the fonts are great, but some of the effects could work.

 

I could see the USFL teams around 2018 or later adopting more shoulder "swatches" and sleeve colors rather than stripes, since sleeves are really disappearing.  I think the USFL will move away from a lot of the yokes, though not entirely, and you will not see a lot of Unitard looks in the USFL I design.  I just hate it. 

 

Oh, and you will never, ever, see solid color socks without white bases or striping of any kind.  That is a hill I am ready to die on.  Sports socks are white, not black or blue, or grey.  You put stripes or color at the calf, but the ankle should be white.  I refuse to even buy exercise socks in any other color, no matter what Nike says.  Call me an old fuddy duddy on that one, but in  my day (ooh, I am old) the only team that had on black socks was the team from Accounting.  

 

 

OK, revisiting this after the initial horror.   Trying not to be 100% negative.  Looking at the details as more images come out, there are some interesting elements that with better execution could look really good.  So, here are five elements which (if done a bit better) could be a good look and 5 mortal sins the XFL has committed with this round of uniforms:

 

INTRIGUING ELEMENTS

 

1.  I actually am pretty impressed with some of the textured elements. The oil slick Houston pant stripe, the snakeskin pattern on the black numbers for Las Vegas, the dragon scales on the Seattle pant stripe.  They overdo it by repeating the motif too much in the uniform, creating things like navy numbers on a navy Houston jersey, or snakeskin on numbers, sleeves and pants (too much), and the Seattle helmet stripe is too much.  But, in small doses like just in 1 stripe or just in the numbers, this can work well.

 

2. The use of transitional color not on the numbers themselves, but on the piping/outline around them.  They do this with Seattle very well, a bit less successful with San Antonio.   I am very much against colored numbers on a dark jersey, prefering the crispness of a white number, but I like the idea of having the outline shift from one team color to another (green to blue on Seattle), as long as neither of the colors is the color of the jersey itself.  I could see this working particularly when teams have 3 main colors.

 

3. Other than DC, all the teams have pant stripes.  That is a good thing.  Not all look great, but the era of plain pants we are seeing in the NCAA and even some NFL Teams (Manders, I am looking at you) is not a good trend.  

 

4. Only DC has sleeve stripes, and that just feels like a trend, moving towards shoulder or sleeve colors instead, just seems so necessary with the new cuts of the jerseys.  And where they did shoulder stripes, they avoided the mid-shoulder cutoff like the Colts and Patriots have, which look so awkward. You have to extend them down further on the front and back to at least try to show some semblance of "underarm".    I am excluding whatever overalls-styled stripe the Renegades are trying for here.  That is just fugly. 

 

5. I like the idea that teams could have a light jersey set that is not necessarily white.  San Antonio using yellow is an idea that should work for either LA team in the NFL.  Not as sold on St. Louis's grey, mostly because grey and gold are tough when materials on the uniforms are dull/matte and the helmet is glossy or metallic.

 

KINDER NO BUENO

 

1. Unitards.  Vegas in particular is over the top.  Black helmet, black facemask, black jersey with black striping, black pants with black textured stripe, black socks.  It's just not a good look.  I guess "the kids" like it, and I am just an old man who likes white socks with stripes, pants with stripes, contrasting helmet, jersey, pants, socks, etc.  But if so, I can only say what I think.

 

2. Trying too hard to be edgy:  Whether it is Arlington's overalls, Houston's helmet, Seattle's chrome helmet with weird fractile attempt at dragon scales, or Houston's unecessary yoke, there is just  a lot of trying too hard to do something different for the sake of being different.

 

3. Some of the number fonts just do not work.  I like what they are doing with DC, and even Houston's and Seattle's work for me, but the Arlington one is just bad, especially on the white jersey, and some of the fonts just don't seem to mesh with the rest of the look.

 

4. Overemphasized chest logos.  When you have the team name on the front of they jersey, having large league and brand logos as well just makes it look messy, like a Mexican soccer league kit with 17 sponsors on it.  Houston is particularly bad with this since their use of a yoke just makes it so much more obvious that they are making space for those logos with cutouts. 

 

5. Whatever Arlington's helmet is trying to do.  I am just not sold on the huge, wide stripe thing.  Add to that the all white logo awkwardly placed beneath it.  It is easy to complain about Houston's ludicrous Texas flag concept, but Arlington's helmet may be even worse.  I remember Indiana U. did a similar thing and it really did not work for them either.   I get that the new helmets, with all the cutouts and holes in them make life difficult for using standard decals, but this is not the answer. 

On 12/4/2022 at 11:50 PM, Bomba Tomba said:

These guys should fire cannons after every touchdown like Tampa does IRL

I expect that will happen.  I should do a story in the league on the unique celebrations and sideline elements of different teams.  You know the Dragons have some pyrotechnics happening, the Thunder have to pump in the thunderclap sound, and the showboats have steam-pumping whistles when they score.  They just have to. 

OK, I have looked at all the media I could find.  This video on XFL Twitter seems the best to see the different uniform details.  My comments (and I will try not to let my traditionalist rage get the best of me) are below. 

 

First off, I feel like the XFL went out of their way to offend anyone over 40 and cater to 15 year olds who love pro rasslin'.  That is the only explanation I can devise for these looks.   They check off so many boxes of my "most hated design features in contemporary football", including unitard looks, chrome helmets, socks with no stripes or even white in them, over the top helmet concepts, and bad color combos.    But, to be fair, I am sure I can find something I like about each so here is the team by team analysis.

 

1. DC Defenders.  

     GOOD:  Simple color scheme.  A bit of silver added to white and red.   They found a way to add the flag to the stripes.  I don't hate  what they did with the numbers. 

      BAD:  The logo is a downgrade from 2020, and they don't use the secondary.   The pant stripes are boring. 

      UGLY : Unitard when white pants would work well with red jersey.   Camo in white and silver is just not effective.  A white  face mask with that look also does not help. 

     OVERALL:  The best (least fubar) of a bad bunch. 

 

2.  Orlando Guardians

      GOOD:  The jerseys are not highlighter green.  The number font itself is fine, but...  

      BAD:  The helmet stripe serves no purpose.   The number color is brutal.  White with neon piping would be better. 

      UGLY:  The grey sleeves with those other 2 colors is just bad.  The numbers will be really hard to see.  Unitards again.

     OVERALL: Not vomit-inducing, but not a good uniform, especially with  how they use neon green and grey over each other. 

 

3.  Arlingdallas Renegades.

     GOOD:  Light blue jerseys stand out.   

     BAD:  The helmet stripe is a nightmare, way too wide.  the Shoulder stripes look like overalls or like he is wearing a parachute.  The lack of the secondary logo (which is far superior to the primary) is a missed opportunity.  

    UGLY:  Sky blue jersey and sky blue pants make a painful unitard.  The number concept (thin red stripe in black numbers, can work, but the font is not great for this team.   The pant stripe does not work with the diagonal sky blue line through it and I think I saw half side panels also.  Way too much going on.  

  OVERALL: Really bad set of bad ideas thrown together, but still not the worst in Texas, much less the league. 

 

4.  Houston Rough (to look at) necks. 

      GOOD:  The color combo is fine.  Very Texas, but fine.  no unitard look, which is a nice departure.   And I actually don't  mind the oil effect in the stripe, but not sure it works in the numbers. 

      BAD:  Hard to separate the bad from the ugly.   The number font is fine.  the blue side of the helmet is fine. 

     UGLY:  That helmet does not work as a 1-time alternate for an arena-league team in Texas, much less a full time look.   Just amazingly bad and it also forces them (I guess) to go with another horrible trend, the number-on-one-side helmet.   The shoulder yoke is brutal, especially with the cutouts for the league and brand logos.   

      OVERALL:  Just another mishmosh of bad 2000's trends all wrapped up in  a "Yee Haw, we is from Texas" overkill of bad taste. 

 

5. San Antonio Brahmas

          GOOD:  I think they are at least not wearing black.  It's dark grey, right?  Hard to tell.

          BAD:  Unitard, bad number font, piping that changes tones from bottom to top of the numbers.  Shoulder stripes are generic.

           UGLY:  Are they horns?  is the guy's head being impaled by the horns because they come from the back of his head not the  front?   What happened to the "B" hidden in the horn logo?  or are they lightning bolts, which have nothing to do with  Brahma bulls?   And is that really "cracked horn" pattern or a lightning pattern?   

         OVERALL:  This new high caffeine energy drink is gonna be dope.  What? It's a football team?  Really?

 

6. St. Louis Battle-I-swear-if-someone-says-frickin'-ka-kaw-this-is-over-Hawks.

        GOOD:  They did not screw up the colors.  The blue is distinctive.   I like that they made the helmet a metallic silver. 

        BAD:  Boring pants, boring shoulder stripes, boring font.  Why not silver pants?  Why  not?

        UGLY:  The wings on the helmet feel way too low, like neck wings, not head wings.  Yet another unitard, and one that has such an obvious solution. 

       OVERALL: Meh with a side of "whatev". 

 

7.   Seattle (Redundant Sea) Dragons

              GOOD:  The color scheme, a bit light on the green, but overall decent.  Not a unitard. 

              BAD:  The shoulder and pant stripes are boring.  Stripeless socks (all teams equally bad here)

              Ugly:  the chrome helmet does not work for me.   Not with this team identity at least.   And what is with the fractile design  stripe.  What does that have to do with anything?   The number font is not a good fit either.  

              OVERALL:  Salvageable with perhaps the fewest adjustments of any team. 

 

8.  Las Vegas Vipers

            GOOD:  Stuck to a basic color scheme, no new weird colors.   I may actually like that it appears that in the helmet divides,  where the different pieces separate, it appears they edged the helmet in red, rather than all black.  Adds a hint of color in an unusual but not obtrusive way.   I like the concept of a snake skin pattern on the pant stripes, but not sure it shows up enough with black on black. 

            BAD:  The logo still sucks (again a Monster energy drink, not a sports logo), black on black on black on black unitard.  

            UGLY:  The number font stinks for this team.  The name font is not great either.  "Vipers" is ilegible red on black.  The  pant stripe is almost invisible at any distance because it is black on black, so the whole look is just ballet leotard. 

              OVERALL: Major underwhelming and overdone with the black "ooh, we're las vegas, we're badass" vibe. 

 

 

My overall impression:  This entire line was designed by, for, and to dude-bros who drink 6 "Full Throttle" drinks by 10am,  want to know how much you bench, are trying to get into crypto, and go to the gym to look in the mirrors.   Maybe there is an audience for that, after all our society is crumbling under an amazing presure of idiocracy and self-indulgence, so this might work for the XFL, but this quickly aging Gen-X guy is going to stick to more traditional looks and probably to the NFL, CFL and USFL for his football fix.   I just don't need the energy this thing is putting off.

 

And my apologies to the Washington Commanders.  I was wrong.  You could have designed a worse look.  Who knew?

                 

And here is your winner, the 2003 Boston Cannons football club.  Drew Bledsoe, Tiki Barber, London Fletcher, and Coach John Fox bringing football to Beantown!!!

 

While the initial reveal of USFL Boston's identity will occur on the USFL Lives website, for the always amazing followers of Cris Creamer's Sportslogos.net, I present the three uniform designs.  One of these will be taking the field in March of 2003 at Alumni Stadium on the campus of Boston College.   But which one?  Tune in to the USFL Lives website tomorrow to find out. 

 

Will it be the Cannons, with their explosive new look. 

 

Or the Colonials, with their revolutionary style?

 

Or will the Commanders be sailing into Boston?

Well, everyone, we are down to the wire on our Boston USFL identity vote.  I have just published the Week 13 recap, and I have already simulated Week 14's games, so all I have to do is write the recap for the week. So, the poll will remain open until 12-midnight (EDT)  tomorrow night.  At that time I will check the results, close the poll and prepare to reveal the new Boston USFL club's identity, and full uniforms in the Week 14 recap on Saturday morning. 

 

So, if you have not yet voted, now is your last chance.  It is an amazingly tight 3-way vote right now and even a small number of votes cold alter the decision.  I have committed to going with the poll results regardless of how close the vote is.  I will only weigh in if we have a tie at the top, and that very well could happen. 

 

So, hit up the site if you have not voted yet, and then check back on the main site on Saturday to see what the result is. 

 

And, in the meantime, I decided at the 11th hour that I really did not like the idea that Reebok would design a whole new logo set for the relocated Knights but essentially keep the St. Louis uniforms intact.  So, removing all the arch-themed elements, I designed a new version of Nashville's uniform, including a new "swordstrike notch" motif that you can see on the new helmet stripe as well as on both the pant and sleeve stripes.   Nashville also becomes the only USFL team to have a single-color number set, with no outlines.  Seems odd that I would not have done this before, though I do tend to like numbers with at least 1 outline, so not that surprising.  

 

Here is the just released Nashville Knights full design set.  As always, click to go to the Imgur site, where it can be blown up for more detail. 

 

While Texas debates whether to go with a new design for 2004, Houston will have their new look ready to roll.  The Gamblers ditch the "early 2000's Bills" look with mismatched panels, yokes, and pant stripes, and go full on western.   I have shown elements of this before, but here is the full look.  Some notes:

 

1. The logo is unchanged (main logo) but there is a new wordmark with a more Wild West font.

2. Helmet remains the same, no stripes, very much like the 2022 USFL version.

3. Both jersey's feature the "Western wear" look of piping.  Team logo on sleeves. 

4. Pants also have a version in black and white, with a jaguar-esque red horizontal color block at the knees. 

 

It's a uniform that makes you want to say "Howdy, pardner".  Click on it to get to the Imgur version where it can be blown up for more detail. 

 

 

More on Texas coming soon, plus the Breakers go through a serious modification of their main logo and helmet design. 

So maybe a 1-day change like that weird Niners logo, where fan reaction is hugely against it so it changes back without ever seeing the field.  Any other thoughts on this?

Checked the poll just now.  342 total votes (Wow!) and even stranger, all 3 names have exactly 114 votes for them.   This is wild.  

And, just because this is a logo/design website, I want to provide something for you, so here, for your debate fodder, is the current (1988-2003) and proposed (2004) logo for the Texas Outlaws.  Should they make the switch or should fans revolt and want the old "Outlaw Jim" back?

 

LOGO 1988-2003  (Based on the CFL-USA's San Antonio Texans crossed with the colors of the San Antonio Gunslingers, and with an oddly-familiar blue star included).

 

LOGO PROPOSED FOR 2004-?  (Based on the short-lived Ottawa Renegades logo, but again with Gunslinger colors). 

3 hours ago, Vinny0930 said:

Not just a big surge there, but a bite surge in votes altogether

 

Update: Colonials just had a big surge and is now rivaling Cannons for the top spot

Yes, a ton of votes have come in between Friday and Today.  We are now at 250 votes (I had no idea that many people even knew about the site) and Cannons holds a 108-97 lead over Colonials, with Commanders a distant third.  Voting is likely to continue through this upcoming week, so it is not over yet. 

 

Voting still open for the Boston USFL identity (already close to 100 votes.  I am so grateful and in awe of the following this this has picked up.)   I am also prepping the Reebok redesigns for 3 clubs in 2004:  

• Texas Outlaws will be borrowing some style from north of the border. 
• Houston Gamblers ditch the ugly 2000's Bills look for something so Texas it is practically made of brisket.
• New Orleans goes new wave, just not the Depeche Mode or Eurythmics type. 

 

But, for your viewing pleasure, before those releases are made, here are the next two Summer Bowl Logos,   2002 at Heinz Field, and 2003 in the Emerald City. 

 

 

 

 

It is early, but Colonials is out to the lead.  I expect the polls will be open for 9-12 days, based on how long it will take me to simulate and publish the stories for weeks 8-14.   I should publish quite a bit this week as I am on vacation for the holidays and avoiding my in-laws (downstairs) by working on this as much as possible. 

58 minutes ago, heavybass said:

@WideRight You did mention the Colonials design as something special so i would of picked that if it was an option here.

Hmmm.  Not sure what I meant by that.  I am working up the uni design for all three, so I think they all will be good. 

1 hour ago, ralphz said:

On your website, I'm not seeing a button or anything to actually register a vote. 

The link should take you to the poll page, and there is a poll on the bottom where you should be able to to register your vote.  Is it not showing up for you?  

The poll is now live so I can reveal the three potential identities for Boston's new 2002 USFL squad.  You can vote for your favorite here.

 

Boston Colonials:  Despite the potential lawsuit from the Patriots, this option remains the preference of the ownership group, and if the USFL can get a deal with the NFL to avoid a lawsuit, they want this to be an option.  Based on a modified version of the UFL's Hartford Colonials, with the wings no longer forming an H but out to the sides.  It is still designed to resemble a revolution-era medal worn by a military commander.  The colors are metallic gold (brighter than Birmingham's, but not as saturated with yellow as Philadelphia's gold), navy blue, and a medium "gunmetal" grey.  The helmet features a thin grey stripe bordered by thicker navy stripes and a 3-star pattern by the back bumper.  This is the only one of the three designs to feature metallic gold v. athletic gold (yellow) and the only one without a navy helmet. 

 

 

Option 2 is based on a real logo used for a Boston club, the Boston Cannons of pro lacrosse.  Colors changed, explosion pattern also changed.  This design, like option 3, will be navy blue, gunmetal grey, and athletic gold.  The helmet features a thick grey stripe that ends at the bumper with the blast pattern from the logo in gold and white. 

 

 

And finally Option 3, the Boston Commanders, a naval theme which ties in with the city's rich naval history (as Brian in  Boston outlined).  Based on the AAF's San Diego Fleet logo, this design features the chevron pattern of military insignia as a key motif.  The helmet stripe is yellow with a white and grey chevron at the front bumper.   The name was chosen for 2 reasons, first, I am not a big fan of singular names (Fleet, Rage, Express, etc.) and try to limit my use of them, and second, I have a BC monogram (visible in the article about the poll on the website, which I had hoped to use for any of the three, so all three needed names that started with "C".  Besides, by using this name the USFL would preempt the NFL, possibly allowing us to avoid the disaster that is Washington's new branding.  

 

Still not 100% convinced of the font on this one.  Might update it.  

 

So, head on over to the site to vote.  The poll will stay up until I post the recap of Week 14, then the winner will be chosen from your votes (votes from all who do the poll, not just Creamer fans) and the new identity and uniform will be revealed at that time. 

 

(And, as with all the logos and uniforms in the league, do not expect it to remain static from 2003 all the way until 2022 or later-- I did the math, by the time I complete 2022 season it may be 2024 or 2025 in real life, so the league will go until it catches up with reality.)

Several really strong logos and concepts here, but not sure what the connection is to the USFL.  Seems like a whole new league rather than a callback to the USFL.  That said, the art itself is solid.  

Maybe it is because I am a USFL purist who fell in love with the league when I was 16 in 1983, but while the new logo is adequate, I miss the old one, and I cannot help but think that this would be a better option for them.