XFL 2023 Logos, Names and Uniforms

[TBGKon]

1 minute ago, Bmac said:

What's the deal with the little bull icon above the player names on all jerseys?

 

Its the Project Rock logo from Under Armour.

 

[LogoFan]

Oh, joy.  On top of all the "cutsey" elements, we also have gradients.

And Dwayne's bull logo on the back of every jersey.

I look at all this hot mess and can only conclude they were trying to out-do Oregon in eye-sore elements. 

[GDAWG]

It was disappointing that they didn't keep the Battlehawks uniform the same as it was in 2020.

[DCarp1231]

The BattleHawks helmet is an improvement, IMO.

[GDAWG]

They also should have kept the Roughnecks, Defenders and Renegades look from 2020.  Instead they went way overboard for all of them.  

[DCarp1231]

Just now, GDAWG said:

They also should have kept the Roughnecks, Defenders and Renegades look from 2020.  Instead they went way overboard for all of them.  

Roughnecks and Renegades? Yeah absolutely

 

Defenders? Eh, not so much. Even with the camo print, it’s an improvement

[SSmith48]

Ok there's a lot to unpack here...

 

First, I don't think I'm disappointed, but rather think that these missed the mark. The general idea is in the right place: give teams uniforms that think outside the box and look unique (it is the XFL after all), and have each team receive a signature color. They did a good job with this, and each team has a recognizable look because of it. That's not the issue I'm having.

 

What I do have a problem with is I think they went too gimmicky, almost to their own detriment. Many of the teams with strong signature looks originally (DC, St. Louis, Houston, etc.) didn't need to be changed much, but their look got thrown in a blender and completely changed. Many of the teams suffer because of it. It's all too "in your face" and not practical enough in some cases. I like some of the elements and ideas, just not the way they implement them.

 

Also, of course they decided to do the unveiling with action movie trailer-style videos with way too many cuts and close ups, paired with terrible lighting. I never understood this trend. This is a football uniform, not a blockbuster feature film.

 

San Antonio: The helmet doesn't remind me of a bull, and to be honest, if was shown this with no prior knowledge, I wouldn't know what it was trying to represent. I like the matte gray finish though. The yellow road uniform is the better set of the two; the contrasting caps look better than the over-the-sleeve stripe when paired with the collar pattern. Color scheme is nice. The gradient numbers on the home didn't need to be there.

 

Vegas: The most inoffensive set of the league. I'm whelmed here. Nothing I particularly like or hate about this set.

 

Orlando: Not a fan of this set at all. The home jersey is disgustingly garish, the road lacks any color in contrast. Makes it look like they didn't know what color scheme they wanted to go with. Only redeeming piece here is the helmet, which is actually quite nice. Overall, it's a massive downgrade. The OG Guardians set was my favorite from the 2020 season.

 

St. Louis: Another downgrade all around. Needs more navy IMO. The original set had really nice color balance, this one just doesn't feel right, can't put my finger on exactly why though. Silver helmet with wings is not bad at all, especially with the metallic logo, but the blue shell with the full logo from 2020 was spectacular.

 

Seattle: Orange is a weird choice for a team named the SEA Dragons. Despite that, I think this is one of the better sets from this iteration. It's just the orange feels off and if you're going to roll with that at home, there needs to be some on the away jersey.

 

Arlington: Another set that confuses me. I love that they promoted light blue to the primary color, and I like the inline numbers, but the color composition is all off. The helmet was light blue/black/white, and home jersey is light blue/black/red, and the away jersey is white/light blue/red. making all the elements together feel unbalanced. The sleeve stripes could also use another thin stripe of another color, they feel very plain and blocky in their current form.

 

Houston: Not a fan of this one at all. The original Roughnecks brand looked unique, especially with silver. This just looks like if the Texans decided to play in Arena Football with the Navy/Red/White color scheme, gaudy Texas flag helmet with mismatched logo/number on each side, the gradient numbers, and the contrasting yoke that looks like they just colored it in on Microsoft paint. They just tried to cover too much ground here. Doesn't quite fit the look of a "Roughneck" too me, it's too polished.

 

DC: This one is ok. The camo and gradient number inline are a bit overkill IMO, but the sleeve stripes and relative simplicity is nice. Would have preferred a red helmet or facemask here though.

 

As much as the 2020 uniforms were hit and miss, they worked better than these do overall because they were, for the most part, practical. I expect some of these will grow on me, but I'm just not feeling these looks for now. Check back in with me after a couple weeks of play I guess.

[GDAWG]

Orlando Guardians would have worked with that color set if the XFL said "for the Guardians lets copy the look of the Seattle Seahawks."    Now I am not a fan of the Hawks neon jerseys, but their regular helmets make the uniform tolerable.  

[DCarp1231]

This is yet another example of “don’t let teams/league choose what they wear”

[WideRight]

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?

                 

[BengalErnst]

haha WideRight I love you and your work and this review made me chuckle a few times. Definitely not going to disagree with anything you said but you may have been a little over the top with your always present XFL hate 

[GDAWG]

The USFL doesn't have bad looking uniforms.  In fact, those looks the USFL has is exactly how I pictured them to look modernized.  

[DCarp1231]

Seems like SA could’ve just taken the Vikings horn logo and flipped it forward, but the league probably doesn’t want another lawsuit.

[SSmith48]

This is weird: the Defenders have 2 pairs of red pants, one with stripes for the home uniform, and one without stripe for the away. Not sure why they went with this instead of a pair of white pants. Just very redundant.

 

[Brave-Bird 08]

is that camo for DC, or a mock marble pattern? I thought mock marble at first, which is an awesome touch.

 

Also, y'all can run me off the boards, but I love Houston

 

Everything else is meh to me.

[Indigo]

This screams "Mountain Dew at 5 AM playing Call of Duty" energy.

[BengalErnst]

5 minutes ago, Brave-Bird 08 said:

is that camo for DC, or a mock marble pattern? I thought mock marble at first, which is an awesome touch.

 

Also, y'all can run me off the boards, but I love Houston

 

Everything else is meh to me.

I knew I would be in the minority on that one so I didnt comment, but I also love the Houston look. #2 for me behind the Defenders.

[WBeltz]

Did Houston decide they were going to use the Texas Tech helmet from like 2012? I swear it looks like it.

 

EDIT: Its from 2014 and they are as.... interesting as I remember.

 

[VikWings]

3 hours ago, GDAWG said:

 

 

Too much monochrome. 

 

The Renegades would look fantastic with Black pants.

 

Houston's helmet is atrocious.

 

I like SA's yellow jersey. (Although the tried way too hard with that helmet)

 

Best overall set is probably Seattle.

 

Worst is Orlando. Remind of some awful franken-version of the Michigan St and USF alternates.

[CaliforniaGlowin]

one side of the Dragons helmet has a backward S?  I get it, to have the dragon facing front on both sides, but it's weird.