WideRight

Two more for today. Tampa Bay and the expansion Seattle Dragons. 4 down, 20 to go.

Ok, here we go. Texas with their actual green helmets, though now I am thinking maybe the Outlaws need an alt uniform with the colors switched.

Holy crap!!! How did I not catch that. You are right. Total brain fart on my part. Update coming ASAP.

Texas Outlaws. Tampa Bay Bandits are next.

Hi all, After much work prepping for the 1995 expansion and getting the season kicked off, I had some time this weekend to finally work on my "mannequin" templates. I basically used photos from recent uniform debuts to create two uniform displays using mannequin figures so that we could get a 3/4ths look of the uniforms on "standard" players. Once I had the template done (Corel Draw format) I decided to start at the last team alphabetically and work my way through the 24 clubs in the 1995 season. So, Washington is up first, with Texas next. Let me know what you think of this template. I still plan to use the "flat" template to introduce new designs, but will utilize this one or something like it as well to give a sense of what the uniforms look like on players. I believe if you click on the uni's you can go to the Imgur site and see a full sized (appx. 1000x1200 pixels) image.

I have not specifically said this, but based on the way the game works, the Texas Outlaws do maintain the 1 year of Oklahoma Outlaw records. The St. Louis Knights retain the Express records and the new Express team starts from scratch.

Thanks for the suggestions. I am still on the fence over whether my version of the USFL will ever grow beyond 24 teams. The more teams I add the more work it takes to simulate each week and each offseason. 28 is the next size up, and that creates the awkward 5-4-5 alignment in each conference. Hard enough figuring out how to handle 4 divisions of 6 teams when it comes to schedules without having different-sized teams. That said, I do expect some relocation, and perhaps some rebranding, as we move into the 2000's. Stadium issues are always a possibility, as are cities trying to get into the USFL clubhouse. I already have one move planned, as well as a rebrand, so we shall see if more happens. And, I am just about to kick off 1995, so the new teams will be in action. You can check out my site to see just who ended up becoming the first members of the Atlanta Fire, Ohio Glory, Seattle Dragons, and the reborn LA Express. I am also working myself up to designing a new "mannequin" based uniform template where you can see the uni's as worn by the players instead of flat design schematics. Not sure how long that will take, but once I have the template ready, I will share that along with new images for all teams.

Hi folks. I am not designing new unis for a while as I need to do a lot of groundwork within the program (Draft Day Pro Football 21) and with the website to plan for the 1995 expansion clubs entering the league. So, in the meantime, and because I don't think I have shared these before, here are the last few logos for the USFL Summer Bowl. The league switched from "USFL Championship" to "Summer Bowl" with a year designation (no Roman numerals here) for 1990, so we have had 4 Summer Bowls so far. 1990-Orlando, 1991-LA, 1992-DC, 1993-New Orleans, and 1994 (upcoming in just days) in Birmingham. The next 2 Summer Bowls will be 1995 in Denver (the first repeat site from 1983) and 1996 in The Meadowlands.

Ok, looking for more feedback. Looking to update the Baltimore Blitz around 2000. So, some potential XFL influence (Xtreme, Kewl) but within a USFL context. Decided early on that the logo with the full name probably was not great for the helmet, so each design includes a "B" logo, a wordmark, and a helmet. I have a striping design I like a lot and will use with all 3 ideas, so the main thing is the logo. And yes, I tried out the Birmingham Bolts design, but with the Blitz colors it ends up looking like I am trying to create a punkish Union Jack. It does not read as lightning as much. I also tried multiple lightning bolt designs, but they all looked wrong, like a HS that had stolen the Chargers or Air Force logo. So, back to the letter B (since it is both Blitz and Baltimore). Do any of these three work for you? Why? Why not? Maybe around the 2015s the team will get nostalgic and go back to the original logo, but for now, I want the late 90's and early 2000's to lead to some Xtreme style designs, as we saw with the XFL and the weird lightning football logo for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of that time. (The NFL never got too Xtreme because they were already established and a bit fuddy duddy about change.)

In today's posting on the alt hisory of the USFL website I announced that 3 alternate uniforms have been approved by the USFL, the Tampa Bay "Black Rider" uniform posted above, and two throwback uniforms, used by Washington and Baltimore as the two rivals will wear these throwbacks 2x a year when they play each other. Here are the 3 together. I expect 3 more to come out this year, a modified version of the Thunder concept shown above, a blackout uniform for St. Louis, and a surprise one. I will post those 3 soon, and then when we get to the 1995 season I will be adding 2-4 new alternates for the 1996 season (figuring that teams would announce sometime near the end of each season as they often do in EPL soccer, rather than waiting until the draft (as the NFL does).

Throwing 2 more potential 1995 ALT uniforms at you, St. Louis and Portland. These are not final, so I am taking feedback. I am wavering for St. Louis between a true BFBS where they go black on the helmet too, but I kind of like the purple lid. For Portland I am not sure about having a 2nd helmet and I am wondering if I want to do something a bit more experimental with the green pants. What are your thoughts on these two drafts of possible alt uniforms?

Interesting thoughts from all. But enough speculation for now. Here is the first of the 1995 Alt Uniforms for USFL teams. I am hoping to have about 4 teams each season introduce an alt look. Some will be minor changes, others may go full "Nike Oregon" with their looks. The first one is the one I hinted at above. Jerry Glanville took the reins, and so we end up with a Man in Black look for the Bandits.

Hey all, two questions to crowdsource some of my next moves. 1. Alternate uniforms: Using only current logos in this USFL atl history, what alt uniforms would you imagine? Portland Thunder with a navy jersey? Denver Gold with a metallic gold helmet? Oakland Invaders with a "Salute to the Air Force" uniform? 2. You saw that I am seeking to bring the Stars logo out of the 80's. Are there other logos that you think would never have remained unchanged from the mid-80's into the 2000's, a la Bucco Bruce, Patriot Pat, or the Atlanta Falcon logo? Are there any that need to be reimagined for the late 1990's or early 2000's?

Want to take a guess at which teams are going to pull out a fully alt look (not just a throwback look)? I will give you a hint. There are two tickets waiting for Elvis each week at one USFL stadium.

They should lean into the Impractical Jokers being ambassadors of Staten Island and be the S.I. Jokers.

They have a contract in place with Bobby Dodd, but we will see how long they can last playing outdoors in July & August before the buckle and pay the Georgia Dome what they are asking to play there.

And now the final reveal of the 1995 USFL Expansion clubs. Here are your Atlanta Fire. I was tempted to add side panels on the jerseys, but opted not to go there (yet?). The look borrows a lot from the Birmingham Fire of the WLAF, but rather than put flames on the sleeves I opted to use a secondary logo instead. The helmets are very much the WLAF model, though the colors are slightly different with a more orangey-red instead of a standard red. Using different color sleeves just felt like a typical 90's thing to do and differentiated the team from some of the others. And besides, it was about time the USFL added a team with an orange jersey. Seems odd they never had one.

Yes and no. I think that QB's continued to have longer sleeves when most players had already started cutting them down or using cuffs on the sleeves to shorten them. If you look at this image from the unveiling you see that the QB cut on the left has longer sleeves, but the two other position players have much shorter sleeves. As someone who remembers buying 3/4 sleeve replica jerseys and who misses full sleeves and sleeve stripes, I did not want to cut them too short, but even by the mid 90's traditional sleeve stripes were becoming an issue, which is one of the reasons that Nike did what they did with the Broncos, and so many teams followed suit.

Thanks. I am trying to avoid some of the horror show designs that came about in some lower tier leagues, so that is somewhat limiting. No Arenaball zubaz, no logo on the front like in CFL-USA and NFLE, more classic designs, but with increasing variability and eventually a reduction in the use of old school sleeve stripes as the jersey cut evolves. Expect to start seeing new helmet templates in the future as well, starting with the Revolution. And as for LA, I will say this, the Monogram Logo will not remain the primary forever. I have a plan for their new primary.

Third expansion club up. Here is the design for the Seattle Dragons. Heavily influenced by the WLAF and NFLE Dragons, though with some elements not borrowed from the originals. I personally love this color combo, using just a hint of black to offset the red, yellow, and green. It also feels very "Seattle" to me. Not in the highlighter green version of the Seahawks, but more aligned with the last few years of the Supersonics. Remember that this is the first design, and just like the Jags and Panthers in the NFL, the 90's and 2000's and 2010's will lead to an evolution (though hopefully not some of the major downgrades we have seen in Jacksonville.)

And the next 1995 Expansion team is revealed. The Ohio Glory. It is not the most exciting uniform, a bit simplified from the actual WLAF version, because I never thought the WLAF striping worked well. A pretty classic Red, White, and Blue look (for now, things may change later on, in fact they likely will.) The blue is darker than the actual WLAF version as well, but the identity is largely intact. here is an image so you can compare: Atlanta and Seattle still on deck.

Thanks all, the feedback helped. So, I am now ready to release the first of the 4 expansion uniform sets. This is the LA Express. They wanted to retain many elements from their prior iteration, just with a modified logo and a new color scheme. So, it is not a revolutionary design, and, I can assure you, it is one which will not stop with this iteration. I have plans for the Express over time. But, this is a starting point for the new Express and their Navy-Speed Blue- Silver look.

OK, one more very different Stars concept. This time I keep the lettering from the original but swap out the "laser" stars for a "motion" star. it retains a lot of the look of the original, but a very new star as well .

OK, Starting over. I looked at the 1984 LA Olympics logo and thought I could modify that to work for the Stars. It is still a laser/fading star logo, but perhaps a bit cleaner. I then added a wraparound feature similar to Jacksonville. Thoughts?

Hey everyone, Hoping for some crowdsourced advice on a possible logo for the Philly Stars. I just cannot imagine the original "fading star" logo surviving from 1983 until today. I just think that Nike or Adidas, or the USFL would have pushed for an update. It just feels very 1980's. Here is the original for those who may not recall what it looked like. I looked at a lot of Star designs, including proposals for the Philly Stars from the A11FL. There are a few designs that I like to a degree, such as this one from Brandon Williams (https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/project_modules/disp/b5fbd213686175.56276ed32ae5d.jpg I started toying around with ideas, and came across a nice image of a Liberty Bell with a trailing banner from Michael Weinstein's 76'ers redux (http://www.michael-weinstein.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/76ers_alternates.jpg) The banner and the use of empty space in the Bell got me thinking. The Banner made me think of a more colonial look, with a star at the center of the logo, but with the trailing banner, similar to a weathervane or ribbon off of a Christmas tree star. Here is what I came up with, simplifying to have everything in 1 color, with bleed through from the base color. On a gold helmet it would look like the third logo, on paper the first, and maybe as a logo on a sleeve in red. The banner would also be used as the name wordmark on the front of the jersey. This may not ever be used, or I may incorporate it into my USFL alt history sometime in the early 2000's. But I would love to get feedback on it. Does it seem like something a team would use? When compared with the actual Stars logo, does it seem like a possible evolution or rebranding? Could you imagine the USFL moving forward with this logo replacing the "laser" star? I will post the logos and then a helmet so you can see what I am thinking of.