CFL Project (Expansion in Canada & USA starts 5/4)

[Brian in Boston]

20 hours ago, WideRight said:

EAST:   Atlantic Schooners--Québec Voyageurs--Montréal Alouettes--Ottawa RedBlacks--Hartford Oaks--COLUMBUS, OH

CENTRAL: Toronto Argonauts--Hamilton Tiger-Cats--London Wolves--Winnipeg Blue Bombers--St. Louis Stealth--OMAHA, NE

WEST: Saskatchewan Roughriders--Calgary Stampeders--Edmonton Eskimos--BC Lions--Boise Bulls--Portland Chinook

 

So, two more teams to come, plus some revisions as needed. 

Oh, man! The CFL fans in Columbus are going to lose their minds when they get a look at the Hartford Oaks' logo. Did someone say "rivalry"? More like BLOOD FEUD!!!  

Meanwhile, the CFL enthusiasts in Omaha must be scrambling to come up with new submissions for their "Name-the-Team" contest in the wake of learning that the St. Louis Stealth's branding has obviously taken Nighthawks out of the running. I wonder what they'll turn to? Mammoths?   

[tigerslionspistonshabs]

Would the CFL work in Columbus and Omaha, though? They're pretty committed college football regions. I feel like no one would give a damn about the CFL.

[WideRight]

I am not imagining a world where a city or the CFL could afford to build new stadiums for CFL in the USA, so there has to be a stadium in place that with some adjustments could hold a CFL field.  That means mostly football or soccer stadiums, which rules out cities like Milwaukee and Omaha, which only have large-ish baseball stadiums, and some smaller cities such as Duluth, which is both way smaller than even Halifax and also does not have a stadium capable of holding even 15k. 

 

So, we are looking for cities with populations of about 500k or more, and with a football stadium of at least 18,000 but less than 60,000.  It makes the options list a lot smaller, doesn't it?

 

 

[TakingOnWater13]

In that case there's a case to be made for Columbus as mentioned. Madison and Des Moines (metro, since the Cyclones play in Ames), and Louisville have a case too for a spot if you're using the college stadiums that are in place (which are admittedly huge, generally bigger than the existing CFL venues). 

[Brian in Boston]

3 hours ago, WideRight said:

That means mostly football or soccer stadiums, which rules out cities like Milwaukee and Omaha, which only have large-ish baseball stadiums...

 

Oh, well. Sorry, Omaha.

[WideRight]

Huge surprise!!!  The CFL abandons its "close to the border" strategy for U.S. based teams and places a team in Florida.  Of course, we have to remember that there is a huge population of retired Canadians living in Florida, as well as retired northerners from the U.S. as well, so perhaps a team in Florida is not really a departure from selecting teams that are in areas with a familiarity with Canada and with the CFL.  

 

ORLANDO SNOWBIRDS

Yup, it's a celebration of the annual migration of northerners to the Sunshine State as Orlando's franchise pays tribute to the vacationers and retirees who come to Florida each winter to escape the cold and ice.  The logo depicts the mythical Snowbird, icicles hanging from its wings, as it seeks out the bright yellow-orange sun of Florida.   The secondary logo also combines the two climates with a snowflake surrounded by sunshine.  

 

 

With the uniforms I decided I had been getting too conservative, particularly with the helmets, lately.  So, a two-toned helmet, separated by the white wings of the snowbird.  The jerseys carry over this iconography by using a broad chest & sleeve stripe to divide the snowy blue from the sunshine yellow.  On the pants the two colors are separated by the secondary logo.  And, since it is Florida, and the team will play a lot of games in the heat of summer, the whites are all-white to maximize cooling. 

 

 

Only 1 team left, in the Central Divsion.  Will it be Detroit?  Columbus? Omaha?  Duluth?  Des Moines?  or maybe somewhere else no one has suggested?

[BengalErnst]

That helmet is a work of art. Love it. But I’m a sucker for any helmet that’s not just a normal logo on the side sticker format 

[Guest darkpiranha]

22 minutes ago, WideRight said:

Huge surprise!!!  The CFL abandons its "close to the border" strategy for U.S. based teams and places a team in Florida.  Of course, we have to remember that there is a huge population of retired Canadians living in Florida, as well as retired northerners from the U.S. as well, so perhaps a team in Florida is not really a departure from selecting teams that are in areas with a familiarity with Canada and with the CFL.  

 

ORLANDO SNOWBIRDS

Yup, it's a celebration of the annual migration of northerners to the Sunshine State as Orlando's franchise pays tribute to the vacationers and retirees who come to Florida each winter to escape the cold and ice.  The logo depicts the mythical Snowbird, icicles hanging from its wings, as it seeks out the bright yellow-orange sun of Florida.   The secondary logo also combines the two climates with a snowflake surrounded by sunshine.  

 

 

With the uniforms I decided I had been getting too conservative, particularly with the helmets, lately.  So, a two-toned helmet, separated by the white wings of the snowbird.  The jerseys carry over this iconography by using a broad chest & sleeve stripe to divide the snowy blue from the sunshine yellow.  On the pants the two colors are separated by the secondary logo.  And, since it is Florida, and the team will play a lot of games in the heat of summer, the whites are all-white to maximize cooling. 

 

 

Only 1 team left, in the Central Divsion.  Will it be Detroit?  Columbus? Omaha?  Duluth?  Des Moines?  or maybe somewhere else no one has suggested?

 

Best wing helmet EVER.  The whole kit is on fire, but that's the best implementation of the wing I've ever seen.  

[Brian in Boston]

37 minutes ago, WideRight said:

 

Wow! Good thing I waited to pull the trigger on my "Top 5 CFL Team Identies" rankings. PHENOMENAL!!!

[raz]

Love it, but feels in the wordmark like the kerning between "SNOW" and "BIRDS" is off. Maybe turn it into a ligature?

[DaBestoftheWest]

@WideRight I love the curveball with Orlando. The name is great and the colors... just wow. That helmet is to die for, simply amazing. 

[BurdBranding]

Great look and a good point about the Canadian population in Florida. This team could be a traveling team split between Florida and Arizona honestly. My grandparents have 5 Canadian neighbors on their block in Mesa, AZ. 

[tigerslionspistonshabs]

That Snowbirds set is 

[WideRight]

And the final team of the 18-franchise expanded CFL.

 

COLUMBUS CRUSH

Wanted to do something a bit more Bosack here (ie. fun, minor league, cartoony) and I found a really great Dinosaur e-sports logo by Blankid that gave me inspiration.  You will see a lot of his logo in my secondary.  The main focus is on the crushed earth beneath the T-rex foot demolishing the state of Ohio.  The colors remind me quite a lot of the WLAF's Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks.  Of course all 3 main Ohio State colors are here (Red-Silver-Black) along with a dinosaur green.   

 

 

The uniform uses the crushed earth theme quite a bit as well.  It is red-dominant (Columbus, OH after all) but with enough green to distinguish it from anything "THE" Ohio State U. would wear.  Of course another influence here is the really great Prague Golems logo made by Josef_Bretones in his Old-Continent League series. 

 

 

All the teams are revealed, which means this thread is winding down.  I may still have a couple of updates left in me, and then I will move on to something else. At some point I have to put together the 2020 edition of the CFFL Media Guide, for America's greatest fantasy football league.  We had 7 teams relocate this year, so there is a lot to highlight  (most of the designs are on an older thread here.)

 

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions, critiques, support and enthusiasm for this project.  

[pHiL Kizer]

On 5/4/2020 at 4:37 PM, WideRight said:

I almost went this direction with the Wolves, but UConn did it so well, anything I did would just be derivative.  I love this helmet treatment. 

 

Since my beloved Uconn abandoned this innovative helmet, I say go for it!

[Brian in Boston]

These are, in my opinion, the "cream of the crop" amongst your CFL project identities:

 

 

 

[Tygers09]

That is one thing I found unique about the CFL uniforms is the different color sleeves like that of the Ti-cats of the 70s/80s (white sleeves on black jerseys, vice versa) and of the Alouettes like you have posted and other Alouette jerseys of the past.

[jonny24]

Just found this, and love the overall series!

 

My thoughts on each team:

 

BS: The update was a good upgrade, I just don't know if I'd ever be a fan of those "swoopy" stripes. Looks a little 90's soccer to me. 

 

Edmonton: Solid uniforms, the white EE definitely improved the logo. My other thought before I got to the update was to have the stripes beside the E's be a thinner lineweight, but the white accomplishes the same thing. LOVE the overall combination of the EE with aligning stripes.

 

Calgary: Like the concept, I think the logo could stand to be a little more flattened and simplified. Doesn't need all the shadows. Overall solid.

 

Sask: Classic uniform, enough said. The Wheat/Football secondary is marvelous. The primary I wouldn't say is an upgrade, to me it looks slightly like an event logo. 

 

Bombers: Mostly a miss for me. I like their current royal blue over your more nay-ish choice, and the RCAF roundel is a bit close to Jets territory. It does have me wondering about using a Rugby League-style chevron to incorporate the military chevrons. Also I hate the Bombers, you'll see why...

 

Hamilton: My team!! Overall not bad. It might a trick of the borders but it looks like the logo on black is at a different angle than the one on yellow? Decent, tough looking tiger head though. The wordmark looks pretty close to the old 90s/2000s-ish one. I can't say it's an upgrade over the current block wordmarks based on the old serif "H". I don't mid tiger stripes but would keep it to one element - thinking pant stripe.

 

Toronto: Well done! Something new, classy, fits their overall branding perfectly. I would believe that was real if I saw it on social media. 

 

Ottawa: Love the plaid, love the wordmarks. Something about the axe-head-R doesn't quite work for me, although I do like the concept. I think their lumberjack's name is Joe.

 

Montreal: A very good update of their previous set. Arguably what a lot of people would have preferred when the new bi-colour set came out.

 

Schooners - Nice logo! interesting colours that work. Not sure I dig the number font but that's all I can really come up with.

 

Quebec: I lie the colours and Identity. I think you could take you logo and take it two ways. A primary with more of the focus on the canoe and paddler, and a secondary with the Q/Compass. 

 

London: Purple makes sense, both from a league colour scheme perspective and from appealing to a Western U fanbase. The logo does feel a bit too "college" compared to the rest of the league to me.

 

Portland: Knocked it out of the park. I could also see the secondary C logo but with the fish head working pretty well.

 

Boise: Solid, i like the earthy tones. Moose antler helmet logo is incredible fun.

 

St. Louis: Not sure how you could fix the logo but I don't think it's there yet as far as recognizing the shape. Interesting identity on it's own although I'm not the biggest fan on non-noun names.

 

Hartford: Very cool, nice job tying in the Whalers aesthetic. I think the Acorn/Football has a lot of potential as a larger logo on it's own.

 

Orlando: Very good uniform I'm getting some sunny/frosty Third Reich vibes from the bird logo though?

 

Columbus: Just not "digging" it.... I know you said up front you were going for minor league cartoony and.... yep. Just don't like that for the CFL. 

 

 

Overall very fun to look through, and the Schooners in particular made me rethink what I expect from them if they ever do start (looking really unlikely due to Covid, and the gov't seemingly unwilling to help the league at all now, definitely won't be funding a stadium any time soon)

 

[Stampman]

A bit late to the party--but a fun thread.

I had left some comments in the request thread first, before I saw this

So here are some comments team by team:

 BC: I like the subdued orange, although I find it odd to see front facing logos on a football helmet (When it's a face)-but that's no complaint about the quality of the logo

Edmonton: I do prefer the update to the double E it might be a bit busy--but nice job.

Calgary: Nicer uni idea than some of their recent ones-and I like that black is more an accent or trim colour--so points for that.

but the logo doesn't do it for me--the horse doesn't show movement, and it should (Especially they have horse race down the sidelines after a TD)

Saskatchewan---good concept, but he helmet is a bit busy--I would remove the crest from the helmet & leave the "S" and wheat.  I do like the wheat on the pants though.

Winnipeg: nice uni except for the piping-it distracts megrim how cool the rest of it looks-and I agree with the previous comment that the White W would be better on the helmet.

Hamilton: I love the stripes, it's been done before, but this is done well & makes sense. However the helmet logo is a bit busy & bit too large

Toronto:The secondary logo looks too much like an Ottawa Senators logo--but main one is good-(But too big on the helmet)-although I love their football boat logo. 

Ottawa: the logo is too unclear for a helmet--good idea, just needs some clarity I like the plaid LALl their unit should include plaid.

Montreal: I like how the agog maintains an M, an A & a bird.

Atlantic: I like the uni & colour scheme--well down that way, but that logo is too confusing--not feeling it--It is not clear what it is without an explanation & even then...

Quebec: I agree with you on the logo, simplify it and use the canoe & the Voyageur--lose the tress for the helmet--you can still sue the full logo in team branding.

London: quite nice in the scratches for the stripes, etc. Hamilton has done something similar, but not the same by any means--this is more than different enough.

this logo would benefit form a  sideways logo or a 3/4 angle logo that shows movement--it would make the helmet pop.

 

 

[Stampman]

And now the US teams:

Again--a fun thread & some cool ideas.

 

Portland: I like the colours. I like that the fish is not anthropomorphized & carrying a ball & doing a straight arm with a fin--it's a fish.

I cerated a fish logo & helmet for a fantasy league here a number of years ago before life popped up & I had to withdraw--so nice to see a fish logo (& someone here fine-tuned the logo for me, but I designed it & the unis.)

Boise: I love the helmet-I also created an angle helmet for the CFL fantasy league here--and the current owner of the team still uses a variation of my helmet. How can I not love that helmet? A couple of suggestion though--could you use something other than blue in the uni? There's already a lot of blue in this league. (But not a big deal necessarily).  The other is that the moosehead looks real lumpy, the antlers are very good, but he head is a lumpy mass.

St. Louis: One of the better fonts, & I like the look of the uni-other than the piping. Although as also mentioned & discussed the logo is a bit confusing.

Hartford: the green is a bit overpowering--did you try it with he green & brown reversed--that might help, but otherwise real nice uni--I really like the stripes & overall design--very football & a bit different than anybody else.

Orlando--the blue doesn't work for me here, but I like the rest of it--the wings are well done, and different enough than the mouse antlers--so nice job overall, other than the way the blue (Again a lot of blue) mixes with the yellow.

Columbus: other than the logo --one of my favourite helmets in this series. The variations on the stripes & the colours work real well.  It sets the team apart for sure.

But the logo confuses me-it looks more like a cactus or an anchor, it could be more clear.

 

But again overall--a fun series with some great ideas.