NFL Development League - if the NFL had a minor league - COMPLETELY FINISHED

[TheBigBuc]

Since the Rams are gone, could you move the Chiefs affiliate to St.Louis to fill the gap left behind

[Silence of the Rams]

Since the Rams are gone, could you move the Chiefs affiliate to St.Louis to fill the gap left behind

And all you need to do is just change to the Anaheim Rams so you don't have to do a complete overhaul

[chesterraven]

Im not being biased because I'm Calgarian, but I love the concept. It works so well. Sure, there is a province named Nova Scotia but a better reason it should be based of the Scottish highlanders is because Calgary is named after a bay in Scotland, Calgary Bay.

[hockey week]

Im not being biased because I'm Calgarian, but I love the concept. It works so well. Sure, there is a province named Nova Scotia but a better reason it should be based of the Scottish highlanders is because Calgary is named after a bay in Scotland, Calgary Bay.

I did not know that, but that adds a little extra to it. I'm glad you liked it, too!

I'm debating some options on LA, obviously putting a team there throws off everything. It would be easy enough to move the NFL Rams to LA and the IFL Rams to St. Louis, though I'm not sure if that's a slap in the face or not.

What do you think of Hollywood? Would it have to be moved? Is it displaced by the Los Angeles Rams?

[Phil B.]

The Hollywood theme is really too cool to get rid of. It is not real to start with so you can have a team wherever you want.

[CanucksBrad]

CanucksBrad are you just here to cause problems

Why would you say that? that's a little over the top, no?

[hockey week]

Alright, if I move the LA Rams because there's now an NFL LA Rams, the easy option is to put their affiliate in St. Louis to keep any straggler fans - they get downgraded, not abandoned. Could backfire, could work. Hard to say. Basically I'd swap the two jerseys, assuming that the Rams will adopt the old color scheme when they move.

The next best option is Sacramento. Definitely an underserved city. With Reno locked up, and teams in Albuquerque, Phoenix (NFL) (well, Glendale...but close enough), Las Vegas, and obviously San Francisco (NFL) and Oakland (NFL), where else could it go? San Jose? That's really close to the other NFL teams. Maybe Tuscon? That's a lot of football in Arizona. Salt Lake City doesn't sell alcohol, so I don't see that working...Thoughts?

Just when I thought I was done, the real life NFL goes and messes things up lol

[MattyB401]

Pasadena abominable snowmen like the old goosebumps book!

[hockey week]

Reno Rush - Affiliate of the San Francisco 49ers

Named for the Silver Rushes that made Reno the city that it is today. At least 5 silver rushes were made in the mid-19th century, including one of the largest silver bonanzas in history, the Comstock Lode. Considering the metal-based name of the 49ers, doing something based on the metals of the western states was a must.

The logo is the 49ers primary logo with the SF removed and RENO RUSH in its place. I tried with just Reno, I tried with just Rush, neither filled the space well. RR interlocked made too much of a railroad look. Silver, and I mean metallic silver, not gray (hence the gradient) replaces gold on the outer edge and the letters themselves will be silver, too. In a flat version that does not allow gradients, the ring will be gray and the letters white.

The jerseys are based on the 49ers jerseys from 1958-63, when they were wearing red and silver, including silver helmets. The white jerseys of the area also used the shoulder stripes, a dual-red stripe design a-la the Colts. This has been adapted to two silver stripes on the red jersey, and a red-silver-red stripe on the white jersey. It seems that other than that short period of time, the 49ers looked pretty much the same. I had to use the one throwback that was a little different, and not one they were ever going to use. Two stripes are used everywhere, when the players move up to the big league, they'll earn their third stripe.

Sponsored by Atlantis Casinos.

Primary logo:


Wordmark:


Home jersey:


Road jersey:

[Silence of the Rams]

I'll admit not what I would have done but solid nonetheless

[hockey week]

Holy crap, a few hours and its off the first page. Amazing.

Alright, time for the last team unveiling. Then I'll post some of the revisions I've made, and a few overall views.

Hamilton Spartans - Affiliate of the Detroit Lions

The Detroit Lions' first identity was the Portsmouth Spartans, which once looked like this

I chose to use that gold color, which works rather well, but kept the usual Hawaii Blue of the parent team. I also wanted to mimic and update the shoulder striping of the Spartans. The striping and the gold will fit in well in Hamilton with the Tiger Cats, and light blue fits in with the Hamilton Cardinals.

Hamilton, Ontario is both close to Detroit and a large city of over a half-million people that support minor league teams well.

The logo is a basic Spartan helmet, the secondary logo merges the letter H for Hamilton with the Greek letter Lambda, which was used by the Spartans.

Sponsored by Tim Hortons, because it's ubiquitous across Canada and I can't believe I haven't used them yet.

Primary logo:

Secondary logo:

Wordmark:

Home jersey:

Road jersey:

[hockey week]

Off the front page by morning. Amazing. Well, I did a bunch of revisions based on feedback I had received:

Milwaukee Butchers - adjusted the color balance



Memphis Hound Dogs - redid the jerseys. There's no reason for them to be deliberately ugly just because they're Jacksonville's affiliate. I like the shoulder stripe, which is unique, and that's apparently tied to that original design of the real team, or at least I thought it was based on the logos.

Orlando Apollos - The home jersey was crap, and I realized that. The logo also was a direct ripoff of NASA. So the tertiary logo got moved up, and the primary logo remains on the sleeves like a mission patch. Instead of focusing on gray, I know that everyone loves the Creamsicle orange. In doing so, the uniforms became Space Shuttle-era space suits. Sure, it's not perfect with the name, but I think nobody would mistake the imagery. Seeing the success of the Bucs' Color Rush uniforms made me think that it could work with different colors for the socks and helmet, and I think it does.

Vancouver Ospreys - removed the collar design and cleaned up the sponsor logo

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Black Diamonds - Though nobody said anything, I was never happy with these uniforms. So I fixed them and made them a little more Eagles-like

[hockey week]

More updates

Wheeling Miners - the first team I did, and I realized that they were too gimmicky. I went with a much more direct throwback to a Steelers era that was very very popular in the area, but the team has since moved on from, and with the one-helmet rule, they can't really go back. So it works out perfectly here.

Lifhockey was absolutely right, the Columbus White Tigers was a mouthful (not that some of the others aren't), but when he said "Snow Cats" it made too much sense. The only thing that needed changing was the wordmark:

The Columbus Snow Cats:

Finally, one that went through a few versions before I got to this.

New Mexico Express: Obviously the Express is based on the Santa Fe Super Chief, even though the team is based in Albuquerque.

New primary logo:

The swooping design of the locomotive is relegated to the sleeves and the rest is allowed to be a much cleaner design.

Home jersey:

[hockey week]

Last thing to post in this project, then it's officially put to bed again. Finally finished, I'll wash my hands of it and let it finally die like I thought I would weeks ago.

I always like to do some overview work, to add some realism and see the whole thing together. To see how things fit and any that really stick out.

First, a mockup of the Sportslogos page for this minor football league

A map of the league and the connection to their NFL affiliates

A map of just the IFL

and finally, a completely league overview of the jerseys, all in one place.

Here's a link to one twice that size:

http://i.imgur.com/ypvk7F7.png

And the full-size image:

http://i.imgur.com/Td4uxq7.jpg

All of the logos and jerseys and images used in this thread are available here:

http://imgur.com/a/lrjxa

With that, I am finished, the IFL finally put to bed, this concept series is over.

[Silence of the Rams]

This was possiblly the most ginormus undertaking in history. Pulled it off flawlessly

[WavePunter]

Valdosta State University is another school that uses the nickname Vulcans. Wish you would finish the last few teams, really enjoyed it

Valdosta state is the blazers

[Around the Horn]

On 12/6/2015 at 2:16 PM, hockey week said:

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Black Diamonds - Affiliate of the Philadelphia Eagles

This was the toughest name to come up with. The area is perfect, plenty of population close to Philly that loves minor league sports, but they're only known for Coal. Anthracite Coal, the hardest, toughest to use, and cleanest comes from this area almost exclusively. Black Diamonds was the best I got, short of reusing Miners.

The primary and secondary are based on the Lehigh Valley Rail Road logos, which served the area in the 19th century and allowed it to grow.

The jerseys are based on coal, with green grass above it, and the "wings" on the helmet are the flames of the coal furnaces, tying the team to the parent club while adding a cool element for the fans.

Sponsored by PNC Bank

Primary logo:

Secondary logo:

Wordmark:

Home jersey:

Road jersey:

A little bit late to the party but this is gorgeous! At first, I thought you would used the Camden-Philadelphia connection but this is a worthy alternative! Excellent job.

[DC in Da House w/o a Doubt]

I was brought here from the Color Rush thread on the Sports Logos forum...

 

Just wanted to say this series is awesome.  That is all.

 

 

[tetris1983]

I love this concept of a REAL NFL minor league; the last one that I replied on got my account suspended for a week, but this one is WAY better than the one in which my account was halted.  Luckily, I didn't get banned.  Anyway, great work, especially for the Columbus Snow Cats.  I may be autistic, but that doesn't stop me from posting comments.  One note to the moderators: I'm sorry for the topic bump and the spamming issues; please forgive me by sending me an email.

[Mikey_Meatballs]

I really like where you've gone with this and it is a lot of fun to think up teams for smaller cities and connect them to a main-line program.

 

Being a Bears fan, I liked your Omaha Ghosts concept.

Other possibilities for a Chicago franchise (say in A to AAA leagues) could be something like this:

St. Louis Clydesdales

Quad City Kodiacs

Bloomington-Normal Bruins

Des Moines Dukes