XFL 2023: Third Time's the Charm!

[gosioux76]

13 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said:

The Gamblers are one of the worst looking uniforms in either league. The Roughnecks are almost as bad, but the plainness of the Gamblers is even worse. I would think Houstonians have more affinity to the Roughnecks, since they've actually played in Houston within the last five years. 

 

Even if this were true, the Gamblers are only a few small moves away from matching the simple but outstanding look of their USFL 1.0 brethren. That G logo is an icon of the USFL. 

 

The Roughnecks branding has been a dumpster fire from the jump. 

 

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

1 hour ago, MJWalker45 said:

he renegade head is so much better than that [R] logo.

 

The Renegade head was good for a sleeve logo. On the helmet it looked extremely cheesy.

 

 

49 minutes ago, gosioux76 said:

That G logo is an icon of the USFL. 

 

That logo is in the all-time top tier of sports logos.  It is one of the best-ever examples of a creative use of negative space.

[monkeypower]

4 hours ago, Sodboy13 said:

Between Fox and The Rock, we are about to definitely find out who has been the biggest sucker over these past couple of years. And I genuinely can't predict an answer!

 

If these two reports are to be believed, I'm thinking it's the Rock.

Going to the calendar, the XFL championship was on May 13th and then the USFL championship was on July 1st.

 

Reading the tea leaves, I can't imagine the league that reportedly initiated merger talks shortly after the other league's season was over is in an advantageous position.

[BadSeed84]

2 hours ago, monkeypower said:

 

If these two reports are to be believed, I'm thinking it's the Rock.

Going to the calendar, the XFL championship was on May 13th and then the USFL championship was on July 1st.

 

Reading the tea leaves, I can't imagine the league that reportedly initiated merger talks shortly after the other league's season was over is in an advantageous position.

 

I would get the feeling The Rock wants out then make a sweet ass payday at WrestleMania along with whatever other projects he has (well when the actors strike ends)

[tBBP]

Porting this over from the other forum (because I legit thought I was posting in this thread in the first place... )

 

If this thing goes thru (which I think everyone saw coming), first thing first: what they gon' call it??? Somehow I think of one name stays, it's gonna be XFL; for one, it's a little less clunky, and for two, I think it's easier to market as something "unique" (though no longer "extreme" as in iteration 1.0). Since I have no better idea, I'll just leave that there. (I think they'll change the logo, though, upon completion to better represent the new blended entity.)

 

Now, as for the teams: I see zero point two Houston teams; that's just oversaturation. Perhaps they should look at moving one of those Houston squads somewhere else. They should also move Vegas, but how much do they want to keep that market? Many have—& will—suggest the Bay area...may I suggest Salt Lake instead?? (By the way, where do we stand with the old AAF IP...are those still locked down or no?) I'm only suggesting Salt Lake in lieu of what I'd prefer to suggest, but I already know how people are gonna respond so...

 

 

[tBBP]

26 minutes ago, Cruhawk7975 said:

Would love to see 4 divisions of 4 teams: 

 

"UXFL" Northeastern Conference

East

- NJ (USFL)

- Philadelphia  (USFL)

- DC (XFL)

- Orlando (XFL)

 

North

- Michigan (USFL)

- Ohio (from USFL Houston) 

- Pittsburgh (USFL)

- St Louis (XFL)

 

"UXFL" Southwestern Conference

South: 

- Birmingham (USFL)

- Memphis (USFL)

- New Orleans (USFL)

- Houston (XFL) (can swap for San Antonio)

 

West: 

- Seattle (XFL)

- Arizona/Denver/San Diego/San Jose (from Vegas) (XFL)

- Arlington (XFL)

- San Antonio (XFL) (can swap for Houston) 

 

From here, I think you can do a relatively straightforward 14 - game schedule starting in February shortly after the Superbowl: 

- home and home with all 3 other division-mates (6 games) 

- play opposite conference division once (North plays East, South plays west) (4 games) 

- play half of each opposite conference division each year (alternate the other division teams every other season) 

- all teams get 2 bye weeks starting in week 6 of each season (roughly around the time march madness starts) and cycling through all teams twice so that each team has had at least 2 bye weeks by week 14 so that everyone has to play the last two weeks each season in week 15 and 16. 

 

From here, you can do a  clean 8 team playoff using 1 of 3 formats: 

- Top two in each division, opening round of playoffs is between divisional opponents for a "division title" to play in for conference finals, then league championship

- Top 4 in each conference (standard 1-4  bracket for each conference, winners play for league title ) 

- Open Playoff bracket, Top 8 make it regardless of division. 

 

A/ Without knowing even if or where the second Houston will move and B/presuming the teams actually transition to playing in their own home cities next season or whenever this merger is finished, it'd make far more sense from a logistical perspective to group Michigan up there in the East with the rest of the northeast squads, shift Orlando down South, and move Memphis to the Central (if the divisions take those names). Memphis is barely 280 miles from St. Louis, only about 50 miles further than Memphis is from Birmingham, an otherwise negligible difference. 

[MJWalker45]

1 minute ago, tBBP said:

Porting this over from the other forum (because I legit thought I was posting in this thread in the first place... )

 

If this thing goes thru (which I think everyone saw coming), first thing first: what they gon' call it??? Somehow I think of one name stays, it's gonna be XFL; for one, it's a little less clunky, and for two, I think it's easier to market as something "unique" (though no longer "extreme" as in iteration 1.0). Since I have no better idea, I'll just leave that there. (I think they'll change the logo, though, upon completion to better represent the new blended entity.)

 

Now, as for the teams: I see zero point two Houston teams; that's just oversaturation. Perhaps they should look at moving one of those Houston squads somewhere else. They should also move Vegas, but how much do they want to keep that market? Many have—& will—suggest the Bay area...may I suggest Salt Lake instead?? (By the way, where do we stand with the old AAF IP...are those still locked down or no?) I'm only suggesting Salt Lake in lieu of what I'd prefer to suggest, but I already know how people are gonna respond so...

Another group owns AAF names and the technology from the app. That tech is being used for the NFL London game next month on Disney+.

[BBTV]

I don't really understand why there's a merger, since they're not really competitors, and there's not much either side could want from the other besides (possibly) territorial rights to markets they're not yet in.

 

When they say "merger", I bet they mean that one side is liquidating assets which will be absorbed by the other, who will then discard whatever they don't want/need (including players), and then basically start over as a new league.

 

I'm not sure which league has the more-talented players, but in a situation like this there would almost have to be a re-draft just for competitive-balance sake, and for the best of the players who's teams will cease to exist.

 

The biggest trick to all of this is the network situation, since I assume each league has multi-year deals in place and one would have to break theirs, or the surviving entity would need to renegotiate.

 

Point being - while I didn't read the article (why would I bother to educate myself?) this can't be a "merger" in the traditional sense.

[Cujo]

3 hours ago, BadSeed84 said:

I would get the feeling The Rock wants out then make a sweet ass payday at WrestleMania along with whatever other projects he has (well when the actors strike ends)

 

$15M to Dwayne is like $200 to the rest of us. He thought it would be fun, wanted to take a stab at having football and came up snake eyes. Nbd, right?

 

So really, this is the XFL not having a second season and failing for third time.

[Red Comet]

The UXFL? If we're going with minor league football, might as well make the league name as minor league as possible. 

USFL has higher production values and the XFL's football was better. Ideally you'd have a relatively competent league with decent presentation. Sure, not as good as the NFL, but what is? I think a few months time off between the Super Bowl and the beginning of the "Whatever the Hell This League Ends Up Getting Called" would be welcome. 

[BBTV]

14 minutes ago, Red Comet said:

The UXFL

 

That's actually not bad.

 

Whatever they do, end it before Memorial Day.  Too many people get away, whether to the shore, mountains, or other ways of taking advantage of the long weekend to spend it watching minor-league sports (or sports at all for that matter.)

 

Better yet - but we know it won't happen - draft HS seniors, overpay them to play for 2 seasons (if they're drafted) and maybe a couple more (if they're not drafted but still have potential.)  Smarty pantses can still go to Stanford or an Ivy League school, but that's a minority of these guys.  Just make it what it should be - a d-league for prospects that don't want any part of the college nonsense, other than being BMOC and banging coeds right and left (which we're finding it isn't always consensual), so maybe this keeps them out of trouble.)

[Sykotyk]

This was my idea from another forum:

 

East (hub in Canton)
Ohio (plays in Canton)
Michigan (plays in Detroit)
New Jersey (plays at MetLife)
DC (plays in DC)

Central (hub in Birmingham)
Birmingham
Memphis (plays in Memphis)
St. Louis (plays in STL)
Seattle (plays in Seattle)

South (hub in Arlington)
Arlington (plays in Arlington)
San Antonio (plays in Alamo dome)
Houston (plays at Rice this year)
New Orleans (plays at Tulane)

My logic being, the USFL may have a TV partner built in, but lacks the resources to put in roots into the other 5 cities that aren't playing at home. Meanwhile, XFL can use this as a chance to cut the dead weight of Las Vegas and Orlando.

The problem isn't that these aren't viable markets, it's just you can't keep churning through markets again and again and again with new teams and expect fans to just keep coming back. We saw that with San Antonio. But at least with them in the mix, they'd be travel partners with Arlington and Houston. Throw in New Orleans, and you have road fans that help upsell tickets.

A bigger issue is going to be ticket prices. USFL went for cheap, while XFL made their money off tickets. Big difference between Canton prices just trying to draw anyone, while XFL teams were going for much much more than that.

I think the logic here, in my thoughts

You keep the 6 main XFL markets, and the 4 'host' markets of the USFL (relabeling Canton as Ohio and increasing the Ohio/Michigan rivalry angle). You pick New Jersey over Philly, and bite the bullet and put them at MetLife, which is probably the only place a team can go in that area. Even if the venue is a flop, you need that market. And you need to get rid of the travel-only teams.

But, you take the XFL route of hubbing all the team in Arlington and do it in three places instead. Canton is cheap. Arlington is already hosting. And Birmingham has been a fine, inexpensive host city for USFL for two years. Every team travels out from their 'host' city for their games.

Yes, you're giving up the Florida and California markets. Yes, you're sacrificing either NJ or Philly. Yes, you're getting rid of the PIttsburgh name. But you weren't going into Acrisure anyways and there's no other venue anywhere closer that can host as well as Canton. Not Youngstown. Not Morgantown. Not happening. But at least call them Canton 'SOMETHINGS' or "Ohio SOMETHINGS".

Let's look at the three 'divisions' I created. First, you have DC and NJ as big rivals. You have Ohio and Michigan as big rivals. Those are built in. DC/Philly would work just the same.

The 'South' would be the three Texas teams and New Orleans. Hubbed out of Arlington. Easy driving distance for the San Antonio and Houston games. Easy short trip to New Orleans by plane. Huge potential for road fans from Houston to New Orleans, and the three Texas teams among themselves.

The Central is only odd because of Seattle. Seattle seemed to fit well into the XFL. But, without rocking the boat on relocation and setting up shop in less than four-five months, you're going with pre-existing cities. So, they'll get bundled into the St. Louis, Memphis, and Birmingham hub. Yes, the travel for Seattle home games would suck. But the hub in Birmingham would make road games for Seattle so much easier to Memphis and St. Louis. Both potentially being motor coaches and not flight. Which would greatly cut down expenses.

Anything under 8 hours SHOULD be motor coach than flight. Get there the day before. Home team can do some local promotions. Practice in the evening. Play game the next day, and travel out. Try to line-up home games back to back, and keep a team 'at home' for the week. Also, to increase local publicity. But keeping the hub system going, in general.

The St. Louis/Memphis rivalry would be great. As would the existing Memphis/Birmingham spring football rivalry. And St. Louis-Birmingham should be great, too.

The big issue would be start time. if Fox wants games to start in April, then the XFL teams would have to adjust to a later start. Unless Fox and ESPN/ABC wants to 'handoff' the broadcasts the way NASCAR did for years between Fox and NBC, or Sunday Night Football did years ago between TNT and ESPN.

My thought would be to start the games the weekend before the Super Bowl. With 12 teams, play 4 games the Week before the Super Bowl (assuming the NFL still schedules the single off week). And two games the week of the Super Bowl (played on Saturday as a warm-up for fans). And then full weeks of games going forward from there. Maybe another bye for all 12 teams (spread it over 2 weekends when viewership will be the least, such as March Madness and maybe Mother's Day weekend). Either do Top 4 or Top 6 make the playoffs. Three division champs, and 3 best wildcards. Top two champs get a bye. And an extra week to sell tickets for their games. Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and the championship game at a neutral site pre-selected. In advance.

[BBTV]

JFC can we stop with the hubs already?  How's anyone supposed to support a team that they'll never see live and has no presence in the community?  We're three years into this - should have been enough time to figure it out.

[HOOVER]

Here's my 1st crack at a potential line-up, with my reasoning for the decisions, as well as changes to team identities:

 

NORTH DIVISION

Michigan Panthers (USFL)

New Jersey Generals (USFL)

Pittsburgh Maulers (USFL)

Philadelphia Stars (USFL)
(Big Rivalries:  Pittsburgh vs Philly & Philly vs New Jersey)

 

EAST DIVISION

DC Defenders (XFL)

Orlando Thunderbolts (XFL)

St. Louis Battlehawks (XFL)

Tampa Bay Bandits (USFL)

(Big Rivalry:  Orlando vs Tampa)

 

SOUTH DIVISION

Birmingham Stallions (USFL)

Dallas Renegades (XFL)

Houston Gamblers (USFL)

Memphis Showboats (USFL)

(Big Rivalries:  Dallas vs Houston & Alabama vs Tennessee)

 

WEST DIVISION

Las Vegas Brahmas (XFL)

Oakland Outlaws (XFL)

San Francisco Demons (XFL)

Seattle Sea Dragons (XFL)
(Big Rivalries:  SF vs Seattle, SF vs Oakland, Oakland vs Vegas)

TEAM SELECTION:

I chose 8 teams from each league, past or present (or a combination of past & present).  Those 16 teams were selected in part due to location, demographics, brand equity, recent ticket sales, and demand for football.  The 16 teams selected were able to be divided into 4 divisions that, for the most part, make sense geographically - the only outlier is the St. Louis Battlehawks, who are a midwest team that I had to slot into the East Division.  I chose Vegas over San Antonio, despite Vegas's poor ticket sales and venue issue; explained in more detail below.

 

TEAM LOCATIONS:

 

A few changes here, with the Brahmas regretfully exiting San Antonio, which has a huge population and had some larger games in terms of attendance, in addition to the new league adding a franchise in Oakland.  With teams in Dallas & Houston, and only Seattle & Vegas on the West Coast, I needed to find some balance.   Vegas did not have good attendance and also has a venue issue, so this one would need work.  

 

Tampa gets a team back, but it's the Bandits, not the Vipers. 

 

Houston retains Gamblers, but says goodbye to the Roughnecks. 

 

San Francisco sees the return of the Demons.

New Orleans would lose its franchise.

 

TEAM IDENTITIES

 

Most of the USFL teams would remain the same as they were in 2023, although I revived the Tampa Bay Bandits because it's a great market with good weather and a great team identity.  The New Orleans Breakers were dropped in order to do so.  

The USFL team names & logos have a lot of nostalgic brand equity, in my opinion, and it makes sense to keep & use the best ones.  The following teams would see no, or minimal, changes:

Birmingham Stallions (changing Red to Crimson or Cardinal)

Houston Gamblers

Michigan Panthers

New Jersey Generals
Pittsburgh Maulers (in Black/Athletic Gold/Grey/White)

Philadelphia Stars (changing primary to Athletic Gold)

 

Some of the color schemes would need to be tweaked, especially to alleviate the amount of Red in the league.

 

Notable changes:

 

Birmingham Stallions:  Shifting Reds here to a darker Cardinal, or a Crimson; with Tuscaloosa down the road, Crimson makes sense.  

 

Dallas Renegades:  because "Arlington Renegades" sounds stupid.  And they'd shift back to the 2021 logo as the primary.

DC Defenders:  Navy/Red/White.  They would inherit these colors to replace the exiting Houston Roughnecks.  It only makes sense for the DC team to wear these colors.

 

Memphis Showboats:  Memphis created the biggest challenge; I'm giving Navy & Athletic Gold back to St. Louis (see below), so the question was:  does Memphis get Red back?  Not completely.  I thought since I've darkened it in Birmingham, minimized it in DC and for the San Francisco Demons (see below), and subbed it out in Tampa Bay (also below), it could fit back in here to oblige the change in St. Louis (also below).  But, with New Jersey in Red tops, Michigan in Maroon tops, Birmingham in Crimson tops, and Red being an accent in Dallas, DC, San Francisco, Houston, and Philadelphia, we've got to go in a somewhat different direction. 

 

While I'd love to call back to Red, Silver & White to pay tribute to the Reggie White days, let's move Memphis in a new direction that ties together multiple sports & local histories.  I worked through Royal (Memphis Tigers) and Navy/Light Blue/Gold (Grizzlies), but ultimately decided to call back to the Maniax and early Grizzlies days:  Teal or Turquoise, which also can relate to the Chickasaw Nation's role in Memphis history; Cardinal as a nod to the original Showboats use of Red; and then retain Navy as a tie-in to the most recent colors.  It sounds rough on paper, but Teal/Turquoise, Navy, and Cardinal creates a unique palette that solves the issue and can branded.

 

Oakland Outlaws:  While the USFL had a great brand in the Oklahoma Outlaws, that logo obviously inspired the XFL Renegades logo, so this will morph into an entirely new identity for Raiders fans in Oakland that no longer have a team to watch on Sundays.  This team would definitely be Silver & Black...but would also add in Chrome Metallic Gold, as in the type that Colorado wore in their 1st game this season, and the branding would take inspiration from the Bay Area Biker Club scene.  I think fans there would eat this up.  The Raiders used Gold briefly at one point in their history, and some rumors swirled that they were going to do it again recently, so this would be a nice way to take a shot at the franchise that left town.

 

Orlando Thunderbolts:  Being an Orlando resident, I can tell you that Florida really is the Lightning Capital of the World.   We get a thunderstorm almost every afternoon for half the year at least, so this is an easy sell.  Orlando would ditch the ill-fitting 2021 XFL New York Guardians logo & 2023 color scheme here in favor of the 2001 XFL Birmingham Thunderbolts brand, featuring a new logo & new colors:  White/Volt/Silver Chrome/Anthracite.   Tampa has the Lightning, so Orlando can have the Thunder(bolts).

Philadelphia Stars:  the Red issue continues to be addressed here, as the Stars switch to Athletic Gold as their primary helmet & jersey color.  Red & Orange will remain as accent colors along with the use of White.  Stars shine bright, and Yellow-Gold jerseys will be one of the brightest in the league.

San Francisco Demons:  This is a tough one, because their original colors work so well, but there's already so much Black, Red, and Gold in this league.   There's also no Purple.  Until now.  Taking a cue from one of The Rock's former ring foes, The Undertaker, we'd roll with Black & Purple for the Demons, with just a touch of Red as an accent, as I've suggested the Baltimore Ravens use.  The use of Purple, rather than Red, also makes this a little more PG...not sure any league in the Rear of Our Lord 2024 will roll with a team name of "Demons" but if so, this is a way to soften the blow, as the branding leans more into "phantoms" than satanical imagery.

Seattle Sea Dragons:  I hate this brand, but the league is light on Green & Orange.  Perhaps a color shift will help it, so let's steal Lime Green from the Seahawks here to replace the Dark Green; steal Carolina Blue from the Portland Breakers; then add Brown for contrast and to give it all a Northwest nature vibe.   Think Tulane, but with Lime Green instead of Kelly, with Brown to break up those light colors with contrast.   Alternate plan?  Instead of Carolina Blue, use Yellow as a nod to the SuperSonics.  Lime Green/Yellow/Brown.

 

Fun thought?  Ditch the Sea Dragons identity altogether, and put this theme with the Rage team name from the original XFL Orlando franchise, and tie it back to the Seattle grunge music scene.  Yeah yeah...Rage Against the Machine was an LA-based band, I know. 

 

Seattle Maniax?  "Sonics...Seahawks...Maniax"...there's something there, too.  Anything is better than "Sea Dragons".

 

St. Louis Battlehawks:  I've long hated the 2021 & 2023 Battlehawks brand; I don't like the logos or colors.  St. Louis likes its "blues", though...so we're going to keep Royal and steal back Navy & Athletic Gold from the Showboats (see above) to call back to the Rams era and liven up the Battlehawks branding while complimenting their NHL franchise.  Additionally, the sword is going to be dropped from the identity, which will shift more towards St. Louis's aviation history and take on a fighter jet identity.

 

Tampa Bay Bandits:  With so much Red/Black/Silver already in this league, we're going to go full Tampa, Florida here and steal Creamsicle Orange to replace the Red, retain Silver and add Dark Grey for contrast.  Basically, darken up Bucco Bruce, with influence from Tennessee's Smoky Grey uniforms, and it's an easy hit.

So, that's a start.  I'm going to go Photoshop things now.  Thanks for reading.

(Yes, I love this :censored:.  Yes, I just spent the last 3 hours writing this up.   Yes, I'd love to be doing this stuff for a living.)

 

 

 

 

[McCall]

7 hours ago, HOOVER said:

Here's my 1st crack at a potential line-up, with my reasoning for the decisions, as well as changes to team identities:

 

NORTH DIVISION

Michigan Panthers (USFL)

New Jersey Generals (USFL)

Pittsburgh Maulers (USFL)

Philadelphia Stars (USFL)
(Big Rivalries:  Pittsburgh vs Philly & Philly vs New Jersey)

 

EAST DIVISION

DC Defenders (XFL)

Orlando Thunderbolts (XFL)

St. Louis Battlehawks (XFL)

Tampa Bay Bandits (USFL)

(Big Rivalry:  Orlando vs Tampa)

 

SOUTH DIVISION

Birmingham Stallions (USFL)

Dallas Renegades (XFL)

Houston Gamblers (USFL)

Memphis Showboats (USFL)

(Big Rivalries:  Dallas vs Houston & Alabama vs Tennessee)

 

WEST DIVISION

Las Vegas Brahmas (XFL)

Oakland Outlaws (XFL)

San Francisco Demons (XFL)

Seattle Sea Dragons (XFL)
(Big Rivalries:  SF vs Seattle, SF vs Oakland, Oakland vs Vegas)

TEAM SELECTION:

I chose 8 teams from each league, past or present (or a combination of past & present).  Those 16 teams were selected in part due to location, demographics, brand equity, recent ticket sales, and demand for football.  The 16 teams selected were able to be divided into 4 divisions that, for the most part, make sense geographically - the only outlier is the St. Louis Battlehawks, who are a midwest team that I had to slot into the East Division.  I chose Vegas over San Antonio, despite Vegas's poor ticket sales and venue issue; explained in more detail below.

 

TEAM LOCATIONS:

 

A few changes here, with the Brahmas regretfully exiting San Antonio, which has a huge population and had some larger games in terms of attendance, in addition to the new league adding a franchise in Oakland.  With teams in Dallas & Houston, and only Seattle & Vegas on the West Coast, I needed to find some balance.   Vegas did not have good attendance and also has a venue issue, so this one would need work.  

 

Tampa gets a team back, but it's the Bandits, not the Vipers. 

 

Houston retains Gamblers, but says goodbye to the Roughnecks. 

 

San Francisco sees the return of the Demons.

New Orleans would lose its franchise.

 

TEAM IDENTITIES

 

Most of the USFL teams would remain the same as they were in 2023, although I revived the Tampa Bay Bandits because it's a great market with good weather and a great team identity.  The New Orleans Breakers were dropped in order to do so.  

The USFL team names & logos have a lot of nostalgic brand equity, in my opinion, and it makes sense to keep & use the best ones.  The following teams would see no, or minimal, changes:

Birmingham Stallions (changing Red to Crimson or Cardinal)

Houston Gamblers

Michigan Panthers

New Jersey Generals
Pittsburgh Maulers (in Black/Athletic Gold/Grey/White)

Philadelphia Stars (changing primary to Athletic Gold)

 

Some of the color schemes would need to be tweaked, especially to alleviate the amount of Red in the league.

 

Notable changes:

 

Birmingham Stallions:  Shifting Reds here to a darker Cardinal, or a Crimson; with Tuscaloosa down the road, Crimson makes sense.  

 

Dallas Renegades:  because "Arlington Renegades" sounds stupid.  And they'd shift back to the 2021 logo as the primary.

DC Defenders:  Navy/Red/White.  They would inherit these colors to replace the exiting Houston Roughnecks.  It only makes sense for the DC team to wear these colors.

 

Memphis Showboats:  Memphis created the biggest challenge; I'm giving Navy & Athletic Gold back to St. Louis (see below), so the question was:  does Memphis get Red back?  Not completely.  I thought since I've darkened it in Birmingham, minimized it in DC and for the San Francisco Demons (see below), and subbed it out in Tampa Bay (also below), it could fit back in here to oblige the change in St. Louis (also below).  But, with New Jersey in Red tops, Michigan in Maroon tops, Birmingham in Crimson tops, and Red being an accent in Dallas, DC, San Francisco, Houston, and Philadelphia, we've got to go in a somewhat different direction. 

 

While I'd love to call back to Red, Silver & White to pay tribute to the Reggie White days, let's move Memphis in a new direction that ties together multiple sports & local histories.  I worked through Royal (Memphis Tigers) and Navy/Light Blue/Gold (Grizzlies), but ultimately decided to call back to the Maniax and early Grizzlies days:  Teal or Turquoise, which also can relate to the Chickasaw Nation's role in Memphis history; Cardinal as a nod to the original Showboats use of Red; and then retain Navy as a tie-in to the most recent colors.  It sounds rough on paper, but Teal/Turquoise, Navy, and Cardinal creates a unique palette that solves the issue and can branded.

 

Oakland Outlaws:  While the USFL had a great brand in the Oklahoma Outlaws, that logo obviously inspired the XFL Renegades logo, so this will morph into an entirely new identity for Raiders fans in Oakland that no longer have a team to watch on Sundays.  This team would definitely be Silver & Black...but would also add in Chrome Metallic Gold, as in the type that Colorado wore in their 1st game this season, and the branding would take inspiration from the Bay Area Biker Club scene.  I think fans there would eat this up.  The Raiders used Gold briefly at one point in their history, and some rumors swirled that they were going to do it again recently, so this would be a nice way to take a shot at the franchise that left town.

 

Orlando Thunderbolts:  Being an Orlando resident, I can tell you that Florida really is the Lightning Capital of the World.   We get a thunderstorm almost every afternoon for half the year at least, so this is an easy sell.  Orlando would ditch the ill-fitting 2021 XFL New York Guardians logo & 2023 color scheme here in favor of the 2001 XFL Birmingham Thunderbolts brand, featuring a new logo & new colors:  White/Volt/Silver Chrome/Anthracite.   Tampa has the Lightning, so Orlando can have the Thunder(bolts).

Philadelphia Stars:  the Red issue continues to be addressed here, as the Stars switch to Athletic Gold as their primary helmet & jersey color.  Red & Orange will remain as accent colors along with the use of White.  Stars shine bright, and Yellow-Gold jerseys will be one of the brightest in the league.

San Francisco Demons:  This is a tough one, because their original colors work so well, but there's already so much Black, Red, and Gold in this league.   There's also no Purple.  Until now.  Taking a cue from one of The Rock's former ring foes, The Undertaker, we'd roll with Black & Purple for the Demons, with just a touch of Red as an accent, as I've suggested the Baltimore Ravens use.  The use of Purple, rather than Red, also makes this a little more PG...not sure any league in the Rear of Our Lord 2024 will roll with a team name of "Demons" but if so, this is a way to soften the blow, as the branding leans more into "phantoms" than satanical imagery.

Seattle Sea Dragons:  I hate this brand, but the league is light on Green & Orange.  Perhaps a color shift will help it, so let's steal Lime Green from the Seahawks here to replace the Dark Green; steal Carolina Blue from the Portland Breakers; then add Brown for contrast and to give it all a Northwest nature vibe.   Think Tulane, but with Lime Green instead of Kelly, with Brown to break up those light colors with contrast.   Alternate plan?  Instead of Carolina Blue, use Yellow as a nod to the SuperSonics.  Lime Green/Yellow/Brown.

 

Fun thought?  Ditch the Sea Dragons identity altogether, and put this theme with the Rage team name from the original XFL Orlando franchise, and tie it back to the Seattle grunge music scene.  Yeah yeah...Rage Against the Machine was an LA-based band, I know. 

 

Seattle Maniax?  "Sonics...Seahawks...Maniax"...there's something there, too.  Anything is better than "Sea Dragons".

 

St. Louis Battlehawks:  I've long hated the 2021 & 2023 Battlehawks brand; I don't like the logos or colors.  St. Louis likes its "blues", though...so we're going to keep Royal and steal back Navy & Athletic Gold from the Showboats (see above) to call back to the Rams era and liven up the Battlehawks branding while complimenting their NHL franchise.  Additionally, the sword is going to be dropped from the identity, which will shift more towards St. Louis's aviation history and take on a fighter jet identity.

 

Tampa Bay Bandits:  With so much Red/Black/Silver already in this league, we're going to go full Tampa, Florida here and steal Creamsicle Orange to replace the Red, retain Silver and add Dark Grey for contrast.  Basically, darken up Bucco Bruce, with influence from Tennessee's Smoky Grey uniforms, and it's an easy hit.

So, that's a start.  I'm going to go Photoshop things now.  Thanks for reading.

(Yes, I love this :censored:.  Yes, I just spent the last 3 hours writing this up.   Yes, I'd love to be doing this stuff for a living.)

 

 

 

 

Why would you drop San Antonio? That makes no sense. They've been one of the top draws for spring football. Had the highest attendance in the AAF and outdrew both Arlington and Houston in 2023 by almost 3k, which was largely only that close due to poor scheduling. San Antonio would definitely stay.

 

And no change to the Battlehawks colors.

[McCall]

9 hours ago, Red Comet said:

The UXFL? If we're going with minor league football, might as well make the league name as minor league as possible. 

USFL has higher production values and the XFL's football was better. Ideally you'd have a relatively competent league with decent presentation. Sure, not as good as the NFL, but what is? I think a few months time off between the Super Bowl and the beginning of the "Whatever the Hell This League Ends Up Getting Called" would be welcome. 

Nope. Using the Super Bowl as a lead-in is far better. Waiting can only cause fans to move on from football. Get to them while it's fresh in their minds. Not to mention the players preferred the XFL (Ta'amu, Perez and others, who all played in the USFL in 2022, chose the XFL in 2023 because it allowed them to participate in NFL OTAs and mini camps). 

[HOOVER]

1 hour ago, McCall said:

Why would you drop San Antonio? That makes no sense. They've been one of the top draws for spring football. Had the highest attendance in the AAF and outdrew both Arlington and Houston in 2023 by almost 3k, which was largely only that close due to poor scheduling. San Antonio would definitely stay.

 

And no change to the Battlehawks colors.

Didn’t really want to; it was more or less the fact that Texas already had Dallas and Houston and I wanted to have more balance on the West Coast.  This is my “ideal” scenario to achieve some geographic goals and lay out divisions, short-term and long-term.

 

The more realistic scenario is that San Antonio stays due to venue, demographics, and attendance history - from a numbers standpoint, they're probably #3 overall behind St. Louis & Seattle in terms of viability.  I just wasn’t ready to give up on Vegas yet and wanted to return a team to another original XFL city to rival SF & OAK, and potentially future other West Coast expansion teams (Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix).  The Brahmas branding, since it is figuratively Dwayne's brand, makes the most sense to rival future West Coast teams, given Johnson's Hollywood status.  I suppose the Brahmas would fit in Dallas if we wanted to flip the Renegades to Vegas, too.

 

I’ve never liked the Battlehawks logos or colors, so the shift is about fitting in alongside the Blues, playing into the blues music history like the NHL franchise, and tying back to the city’s football history with the Rams.  If I was going to make a change, I tried to justify it in terms of color balance within the league while making it make sense for the city.

Thanks for reading and for the critique.

 

[HOOVER]

50 minutes ago, McCall said:

Nope. Using the Super Bowl as a lead-in is far better. Waiting can only cause fans to move on from football. Get to them while it's fresh in their minds. Not to mention the players preferred the XFL (Ta'amu, Perez and others, who all played in the USFL in 2022, chose the XFL in 2023 because it allowed them to participate in NFL OTAs and mini camps). 

I agree, and if you’ve got 16 teams, that’s going to be a longer season, so you want to wrap up earlier and avoid the heat at the end of the season in the late Spring/early Summer.  The league needs to kick off the week of, or week after, the Super Bowl…or maybe even Pro Bowl week.

[HOOVER]

On another note...this league, literally on Day 1 of a merger, needs to reach out to 2K Sports to develop a new football video game.  Madden is trash, but you could really build some loyalty to teams and the league by putting out a great game. 

 

It wouldn't make sense to try to use real players, so you'd save on costs of paying the NFLPA like EA has to do, and you could simply sign certain guys to NIL-type deals for the game and offer them as downloads, while letting the fanbase create the rosters themselves like people do for Madden draft classes that you can download.  

 

There's great potential for storyline modes, such as a star NFL player jumping ship (fake name), or a 5-star high school player skipping the NCAA and jumping straight to the XFL/USFL (although that would be dumb today considering NIL money). 

 

Franchise mode could involve league expansion with created teams, letting players put teams back in San Diego, etc. and rounding out these divisions.

 

Obviously putting The Rock in these modes, as well as his face on the cover, helps sell it.  Get Bob Stoops, Wade Phillips, Todd Haley, and Hines Ward signed so that their likenesses are in the game, also, and maybe reach out to some other retired/unemployed coaches to get them in the game as for-hire options (so we can go 7-9 with Jeff Fisher).  There are ways to include some big retired names to offset the lack of star players in the league; why not see if Manziel or Tebow would take a paycheck to be in the free agent pool?

 

2K does a really good job with the MLB & NBA games, and this could be their way back into the football market and a nice way for the XFL/USFL league to generate some revenue while growing the brand.

[CS85]

The BASS guys and myself all 100% endorse there being some AAF inclusion.