WideRight

Last one for the day: Tampa Bay Storm. I decided to focus on the glory years when they wore navy and gold. The main logo is one I found on a basic search for clip art of hurricane logos. It is from Dreamstime.com. With Tampa I decided to... 1. Go with the oversized logo trend. 2. Use stripeless pants. 3. Create a secondary TB logo. 4. I used a very basic font. Not sure why. 5. Overall, it looks a bit St. Louis Ramsish, but that is mostly the colors. I have the Firebirds and Rattlers in the works. Those should be up tomorrow.

And the Orlando Predators. I really like both the cat's eye "P" logo and the original cat-scratch logo, so I tried to blend the two and then use the scratch motif in other areas. While I made white pants for the Preds, I suspect they would wear black over black far more often than wearing the white.

Adding the New York Knights. They only lasted one season, but the thought of having the Knights as a 30+ year franchise in MSG and then adding the Dragons as an expansion team on Long Island/Brooklyn later makes such a perfect combo (Knights v. Dragons) that I had to. You will see that I completely revamped the Knights logo, using one I designed a while back for a different project. I like the rampart theme as a uniform element and decided to go with a Black and silver combo with a moderate amount of pale sky blue as a 3rd color.

Yet another 1988 team, one of my all time favorites, the New England Steamrollers. With this team I decided to do the following: 1. Retain the main logo but add some grey to the orange & black and modify a few details. 2. Change the helmet to grey (and the pants as well). I have always loved orange, black and grey (old BC Lions uni turned me on to it.) 3. Retain the black asphalt line to the back of the helmet, but incorporate an orange line and then link to a standard central helmet stripe. 4. Use the very tiny secondary NE shape logo as the sleeve logo (see it below the main logo). 5. Use a relatively simple stripe pattern on the orange jersey, but use a sleeve top orange block to add something a bit newer to the white. Eventually I may add wilder alternate uniforms, in which case a black helmet may happen. But for now, a standard home/away uni for the Steamrollers.

Fourth 1980's Arena Football Team are the Chicago Bruisers. I picked the Bruisers over the Rush as Chicago's team for a few reasons. I love the Bruisers name and their bulldog logo has a classic "old college" feel that I love. I also found the Rush logo to be pretty bad. So, what did I do here? Changed the colors to Navy, Sky Blue and Grey. Updated the fonts used. Used the Bulldog on the helmet (The original team had "BRUISERS" written on the side similar to the old Bengals, Giants or Illini helmets. Boring.) Stuck with the 2-blues theme in the uniform. Decided to mix a yoke with sleeve stripes. Went pretty old school all around. Just feels right for Chicago.

Posting this next one not because I think it is ready, but because I am just not confident about it. Not sure I like the update on the logo, and really not sure about the helmet. I would love some feedback. Should I keep the RB motif? Should I go for something more auto-focused? Does the "motion line" star work? Does it work on the helmet? Thoughts? Recommendations? The only thing I don't question is the color combo. It is unique and very Arenaball in my mind.

OK. Let's add the next 1988 team. The original logo and uniform was pretty ho-hum, so I really wanted to up the ante with this design.

I wrapped up the AAFL in 1992. I just lost energy on that one. Trying not to have the same happen with the FFL, but it is tough to keep those going once the logo/uniform designs are all done. This series is not an alt-history, just logos and unis.

Fixed the shoulder number issue.

So I am imagining a world where the Arena Football League was far more stable, without all the team foldings, moving, rebranding, etc. So, a lot of the 1980's team survive until today and expansion adds new teams at different time periods. My hope is to develop a 20 team league and to show 2021 versions of what each team could have looked like had they not been so unstable. First example, the Pittsburgh Gladiators, founded in 1987 and still playing in 2021. In the sheet you will see the original logo, my updated version and my vision of what a 2020 uniform might look like. This is the league that brought us Zubaz uniforms, so expect me to experiment a bit with oversized logos, weird pant stripes, newer style shoulder treatments, etc. Not too insane, because I am a bit of a traditionalist, but definitely not as stodgy as the NFL would be. PS: I just noticed the lack of shoulder TV numbers. I will rectify that and repost.

LA is still a total disaster.

What is their jersey was green, with blue sleevecaps and side panels? I think that would eliminate the Broncos comparison.

I still think they are a bit over-reliant on templates, with too many teams having matching sleeves & side panels. It does not make sense for Seattle to have side panels on the jersey and then tapered stripes on the pants that don't continue the stripe. Houston works because the stripes continue on the pants. I still think small tweaks could greatly improve all looks. Of the teams we have seen so far: 1. Seattle: Drop the side stripe and just go with sleeves in green. 2. DC: Wear the white pants with red jersey and vice versa. 3. LA: ditch the side stripes and the black from the pants. 4. Houston: either get a more metallic pant or tone down the metallic on the helmet. The combo does not work together.

I would say that most of the looks are between passable and quite good. I would argue that if they quickly give up the unitard (all white or all dark) uniform schemes and match the white pants with dark jerseys and vice versa, this would be a very solid-looking league. I like the Guardians in general, but I find the half-arsed shoulder stripes annoying. Dallas looks pretty solid, Seattle has potential. DC is pretty basic, but not in a bad way. Not a fan of Tampa.

I am all for team identities tied to local culture or fauna, but some of these Brandiose names seem more like inside jokes than names that fans can actually get behind. Tarp Skunks? really? Just as bad as Rumble Ponies, Sod Poodles, etc. Some of these teams would be better off going full time with their food-truck day names or their Hispanic Heritage names.

I would absolutely put NY, Seattle, Dallas, Houston, and DC above the Tampa helmet. Not a fan of the LA helmet and the St. Louis one is way too busy (logos are too large). But Tampa needed to separate the 2 greens a bit more (contrast). It is unique, but not really a good kind of unique.

They could easily have had an 8 team league with no color combo overlap. DC: Red helmet, red jersey, white pants, red socks NY: Black helmet, black jersey, grey pants, black socks TBY: Lime helmet, lime jersey, white pants, lime socks (with darker green & yellow stripes/piping) STL: Royal helmet, royal jersey, silver pants, royal socks (with some navy piping/stripes) DAL: Sky helmet, Sky jersey, white pants, black socks (with black and red stripes/piping) HOU: Silver helmet, red jersey, silver pants, red socks (with royal/navy blue) SEA: White helmet, green jersey, white pants, green socks (with orange & navy) LA: Black helmet, orange jersey, white pants, black socks (with red & black piping) Not that hard. You could even go more extreme with some makeovers: DC: Keept the same NY: Just Black & Grey (matte, non-silver, like a granite grey) TBY: Keep the same STL: Keep the same DAL: Switch jersey to sky with black yoke HOU: make pants metallic silver not grey SEA: Change jersey main color to green, not navy LA: Change jcolors to Red, Black and Metallic Gold. Gold Helmet, red jersey, gold pants (Too SF 49er??)

Just to address the LA helmet stripe, if they wanted to go with a clawmark motif I still would argue that this idea (one of my concepts, sorry to toot my own horn) would have been a better way to go because it lets them get both the orange and red into the stripe. Note the black facemasks here too. I just think that works better.

I gotta say that I thought the orange facemasks looked horrible. I prefer the black on black look. Still doesn't fix the helmet stripe (just bad design), but not much could. My concern now, looking at this picture, is that the red looks more like orange and the orange looks more like yellow. Black-red-orange can work as a color scheme. Not sure Black-orange-yellow works at all.

What surprises me about the 8 teams is that with this small a league they could not avoid duplication in several elements of design: 1. 2 teams with black helmets. NY could have had a grey helmet, or LA could have done something like a phased color helmet (See Memphis of AAF) 2. Three teams with black jerseys. Dallas could easily have had a blue jersey with black yoke. LA could also go with a red or orange jersey. 3. Houston, LA, Tampa and Seattle all use the sleeve color + matching side panel format. Only 1 team with a colored yoke and no teams with traditional sleeve stripes. 4. No teams with unique patterns like the Atlanta Falcons sleeve/shoulders, or unique side stripes like we saw in the AAF. I just think that with only 8 teams you should be able to have 8 very unique looks instead of some template/cookie cutter designs. That said, none of the teams is horrible, just not as original as I would like (and some individual elements do not work for me, like Houston's helmet logo tilting to the left too much.)

Just for fun, here is my XFL + AAF Ranking. Since the AAF only really put out solid home uniforms, I will only compare the primary look of each team. XFL gets bonus points for starting out with 2 uniforms per team. 1. Arizona Hotshots (AAF)-- Unique colors, great tie in with actual Hotshot firefighters, loved the initials hidden in the striping and the logo is great. Only negative-- Logo is only on 1 side of helmet. 2. Orlando Apollos (AAF)-- Great colors, unique use of oversized helmet logo, white on white works in Florida, and solid number font. All around nice. 3. DC Defenders (XFL)-- Hard to really screw up a 1 color uniform, but they did not go overboard on stripes or on lightning bolts. I would prefer white pants with the red jersey, but they have that ability if they choose to. 4. San Diego Fleet (AAF)-- Love the logo, love the 2 grey + yellow color scheme and the use of the chevrons on jersey and pants. My only complaint is that the metallic decals should be replaced with a more satin/matte logo on the helmets. The glare made the logo hard to read. 5. NY Guardians (XFL)-- A really solid, pseudo-traditional uniform. The lack of TV numbers bugs me and I am still not sold on shoulder stripes when they cannot wrap around (see Indy Colts vs. Carolina Panthers). But the best helmet in the XFL and a pretty solid uniform too. 6. San Antonio Commanders (AAF)-- Unique color combo that really works. Jerseys and pants were not too complicated or too literal (no swords on pants). Love the 2 tone helmet with the Alamo, again made worse with the 1-logo/1-numbers system the AAF seemed to like. 7. Dallas Renegades (XFL)-- I love the helmet, the whole design works, but with another 2 teams using black, I would have swapped the light blue and the black on most items (Jersey, yoke, pants) to really stand out. 8. Seattle Dragons (XFL)-- Love the 3 colors in combination, good balance. Absolutely unneeded side panels on jersey. Not loving the helmet either. The swooping Dragon could have taken up more of the back of the helmet in the style of the MIchigan Panthers. Team needs a secondary logo for the sleeves. 9. Memphis Express (AAF)-- Solid use of a 2-tone helmet, great side panels on pants and jersey. Kept mostly simple and strong color balance of red & blue. 10. Atlanta Legends (AAF)-- I like the color combo, the use of metallic gold, the simple crown logo (though adding some white to the gold would have helped). Not a huge fan of the ATL along the jersey. That would have been a cool element to add to the helmet stripe instead. 11. St. Louis Battlewings (XFL)-- The logos on the helmet are way too big. Smaller wings would have looked quite a bit better. Jerseys missed an opportunity to use the sleeves to mirror the St. Louis Arch, and I am not sure the navy really helps the way they use it. Would have liked to see more silver in the entire design. 12. Houston Roughnecks (XFL)-- I like the general idea, but again unneeded side panels mean you cannot mix the pants with the jerseys. Had it just been sleeves in Red/Blue it would work better. They have a secondary logo, why not use it? Helmet is a very metallic tone, but the pants are dull grey. That does not work. Try to get metallic pants or go with a duller helmet grey/silver. 13. Birmingham Iron (AAF)-- Actually a pretty solid design except for the helmet. No logo? Really? You have a perfectly good logo that would work well on the black helmet, why not use it? 14. Tampa Bay Vipers (XFL)-- So close, but so far. 1. Drop the sidepanel on the jersey. It does not align with the pants at all. 2. Drop the helmet stripes and change the facemask to the dark green. 3. Sawp the snake logo for the V logo on the helmet and jersey. 4. Wear white pants with green jersey and vice versa. There, fixed. 15. Salt Lake Stallions (AAF)-- That shade of blue is too light to go on a silver helmet. And are we really supposed to see a horse's main on the helmet? Why not just use the full logo so you get both blues on the helmet. Then with the uniform, use the 2 blues more and the grey less (another case of flat grey uniforms with shiny metal silver helmet. Until metallic pants come back, this will always be a problem.) 16. LA Wildcats (XFL)-- Just bad. A 3rd black-dominant team, and why? Would it kill either of these leagues to have a team with a tropical color. Go with orange jerseys, throw some color into it. I am also not a fan of colored numbers on a dark jersey, and the orange/red numbers do not work at all on this jersey. Again with unneeded side panels, and in this case the pant stripes are also a problem. The whole thing is just sloppy and trying too hard (overcompensating for not having a real wildcat logo?) It's a hot mess.

These are actually really solid uniforms. Had the XFL imitated these (and the others from the film) they would be better off.

OK, my full evaluation. DC: Grade-A. The cleanest and overall most professional design. Easy to do with a 1 color scheme. Recommendations: 1) Add some red to the socks (2 stripes as in DC flag is ideal) 2) Wear the white pants with red jersey and vice versa. 3) Make the logo slightly larger on the helmet. NY: Grade A- All the pieces are decent, only the shoulder stripes are awkward. Best helmet in the league. Recommendations: 1) Wear grey pants with black jersey and vice versa. 2) Remove shoulder stripes and add TV numbers STL: Grade B+ Some minor quirks, and I am not sure the way they used the navy really adds much. And a non-unitard, which seems to be rare. Recommendations: 1) Make the helmet logo smaller all the way around (smaller wings, smaller sword) 2) Change the pant stripes and shoulder stripes from 2 fat stripes to a more standard 3 stripe (navy-grey-navy or Navy-royal-navy) TBY: Grade C+ I like the colors and the jerseys are decent, but there are some obvious things to fix too. Recommendations: 1) Put the snake logo on the helmet and the V logo on the chest. 2) Use sleeve caps, but eliminate the side panels on the jersey. 3) White pants with green jerseys and vice versa. DAL: Grade A- The pieces are all there, but having 3 Black jerseys in an 8 team league is ridiculous. Recommendations: 1) White pants with dark jerseys and vice versa 2) Switch the dark jerseys to Sky Blue with a black yoke, not black with a blue yoke. 3) Make the sleeve ends the same color as the rest of the sleeve, not contrasting. HOU: Grade B I like the helmet a lot, I like the star on the sleeve, and the color balance is good, but... some issues. Recommendations: 1) straighten out the derrick logo on the helmet, it is tilted too far to the left. 2) keep the contrasting sleeves, but lose the side panels on the jerseys so that pants are interchangeable. 3) If at all possible use a metallic sheen on the grey/silver pants to parallel the helmet. 4) On the red jersey with blue sleeves, the star should be white or silver (metallic) LA: Grade D- I like the logo, and I appreciate that they wanted to add the claw marks to the uni, but so much is bad. Recommendations: 1) Helmet: Black facemask and change the claw marks to 2 outer red and 2 inner orange to balance colors 2) Home Jersey: Too many teams with the same side panels and sleeve color system. Total overhaul--- Orange jersey with red, white & black shoulders similar to Atlanta Falcons, or do something more like the Dallas Renegades, with a red sleeve and black slash. 3) Away Jersey: Better. Remove the side panel, keep the orange sleeves, add black & red elements to sleeves (Atlanta/Dallas style) 4) Pants: Of course, white pants with orange jersey and orange or red pants with white jersey. Disconnect the slashes. Make them separate slashes (unconnected at top) and imitate the helmet (red-orange-orange-red) 5) Socks-- As always, I hate solid color socks. White socks with either stripes or the top 1/3 a color block (Yes, I am a child of the 80's so seeking any athletes wearing black socks makes me think they are accountants and not athletes) SEA: Grade B- Some good pieces but, way too much going. I like the colors and the attempt to go Michigan Panthers with the logo on the helmet.. Recommendations: 1) Helmet: Use a green helmet, not white, widen the dragon to take up more helmet side, and remove the stripe. 1) Home Jerseys-- I actually like these as a single element, Add a secondary logo to the sleeves to give it something. And, again, remove the side panels alltogether. 2) Away Jerseys-- Same, remove side panels, add logo to sleeves. Otherwise good. 3) Pants-- Of course, white pants with dark jersey and vice versa. Otherwise OK 4) Socks-- White with Green or orange color block. Overall I think the AAF aesthetic was better. It had more variety (of colors, of design--especially sleeve + side panel). I would have liked to see perhaps 1 other team with a yoke instead of contrasting sleeves, and maybe 1 team or more with sleeve stripes (NY?) not shoulders. I also would, with only 8 teams, want to ensure that there are 8 different helmet colors and 8 different jersey colors instead of so much dependence on black. Apparently no one is willing to be the team that risks an odd color jersey/helmet anymore (See the WFL's California Sun or WLAF Orlando Thunder). I hesitate to toot my own horn, but overall I think the designs I did when I imagined the new XFL uniforms are just better (You can see them on page 3 or 4 of the Concepts section) but I am probably biased.

And the Vipers go full Arenaleague 2 with their look. The helmet and jersey are fine on their own, but the pants just kill it. Why have side panels on the jersey when the pants have a tapered stripe that does not line up with them? I like the colors, but the pieces of the uni do not go together. And you have that really nice snakehead logo, but put the boring V fang logo on the helmet? Swing and a miss.

I am holding off to do a full eval later, but so far all teams are B or higher, but these are my quick thoughts DC-- cleanest, but that is easy when you have 1 color + white. Dallas-- I think they should reverse and have sky blue jerseys with black shoulder yokes. Houston-- Several problems here. Metallic silver helmet with dull grey pants (why can't we have metallic pants anymore?), logo is not straight on helmet, Side panels are very 1990's. St. Louis-- Helmet logo is too much. Smaller wings and maybe no sword would be better. Navy, as used here, does not add much to the look. NY-- Love the helmet, shoulder stripes just don't work when they don't wrap around. ALL-- so far it looks like every team can have 4 options, since pants and jerseys can be exchanged. Not a fan of an 8 team league having 3 jerseys the same color (NY, DAL and likely LA). Dallas could easily be sky blue and LA could be red or orange instead. Overall pretty strong, more later when we have the final 3.