Major League Football - Reimagining the 1970 AFL-NFL Merger (San Francisco 49ers update - series complete)

[JH42XCC]

I am absolutely impressed by this series so far. Can't wait to see what else you have in store for the remainder of this project.

[neo_prankster]

I was expecting something more like this for the Panthers:

 

Maybe for the Jaguars instead?

[BayBaseballFan]

@neo_prankster I'll admit I'm no great artist, so free drawing something like that might be out of my scope. It's kind of why I chose to base these designs in the 60's as that era mostly shied away from full animal logos and relied more on simple graphics. And I will admit I already have something done for all 32 teams, so the Jags won't be featuring a full cat. 

 

@JH42XCC @_DietDrPepper_ @rjrrzube Thanks for the kind words.

 

@QCSInteresting idea about the helmet. I went with a black shell even though it's a bit unbalanced on the home uniform because it sort of alluded to the black color of a panther. I might try and mock up your suggestions tonight and see how it looks.

[BayBaseballFan]

@QCSSo I gave the blue helmets a shot. I'll be honest, I think it's too much blue. The suggestions about the socks and pants striping were improvements for sure. But I think the blue works better in smaller doses as accents. I had a hard time deciding on pants and I think I actually like the white pants across the board.

 

 

 

[qckgnc]

I like the Black helmets more and have felt like the team needs to drop silver and move to black and blue exclusively for a long time now. If anything the Pewter color Tampa uses would be the perfect accent color for our pants and helmet but it's taken by a rival so it wont happen. That said, I also feel like the set with white pants you have made is the best choice for the black shells. They can still add silver in the 90s because it's the 90s.

[sky1324]

My favorite Panthers away look has always been all-white, so I think without the silver helmet you could just dump the silver pants. I really like the blue helmet with the black jersey and white pants but black socks on the away isn't doing it for me. Still a decent look, just not for me.

[qckgnc]

At least we all agree that silver can go.

[MilSox]

The blue helmets with black jerseys give me an original Falcons vibe, and the colors themselves recall the Buffalo Braves; both of which are very appropriate for this era.

[BayBaseballFan]

Philadelphia Eagles - the "Iggles" shine in Kelly green

From a purely aesthetic standpoint, one of the biggest jersey crimes currently in the NFL is seeing the Eagles in midnight green instead of a more vibrant Kelly green hue over the last 25 years. I know Eagles fans would probably argue the team has seen some of their best success in the darker shade of green, including the Super Bowl win a few years ago. I'm personally biased as green is my favorite color, but I don't think the team has looked better than they did in the mid to late 60's. The green I used is a little lighter than what they actually wore just because I wanted it to pop a little more. I really dug the the twin stripes at the shoulders and sleeves from that era. Looking at action shots I always thought the sleeve stripes were sort of curved, but apparently they were supposed to be straight. In the end I decided to leave them angled to give it a more unique look. The helmet features the signature eagle wings with the addition of a white outline, which didn't come along until the 70's. Switched up the pants from plain white to gray to match the primary color of the wings. And there you have it: Fly Eagles Fly! Comments and critiques always welcome.

 

Next up - the Miami Dolphins jerseys take on more of a two-tone look.

 

 

References / Inspiration

[BayBaseballFan]

Miami Dolphins - two-tone splendor for the Phins

The Dolphins get a full overhaul on their initial era of existence in the late 1960's The helmet remains untouched. There's something sort of fun about the dolphin logo with its own helmet that sports a simple "M." The jerseys retain the same aqua and orange colors, but I wanted to get away from the Northwestern-esque sleeve stripes the team actually used. It felt a bit overdone during this time period with the Steelers, Packers and Browns all wearing some version of it. So instead the jerseys become two-tone with contrasting body and sleeve colors. I particularly like the way the road jerseys turned out. The goal was to allude to the contrast in stomach and fins if looking at the underside of an actual dolphin. The sleeve and sock stripes are simplified, while the pants remain unchanged. A bit of unorthodox look, but I think it still fits in with the aesthetic of the late 60's. Let me know what you think.

 

Next up - the Pittsburgh Steelers stick with their iconic home jerseys, but a short-lived road look is revived.

 

 

References / Inspiration

[BayBaseballFan]

Pittsburgh Steelers - a short-lived road look is revived

The Steelers are one of those franchises whose look has become iconic with their Super Bowl success starting in the 70's. But prior to 1970, the team was known more for their struggles on the field and a varying visual identity. The helmet, with it's unique one-sided logo, and the classic home jerseys are retained. The only change is reverting the numbers back to the standard block instead of the thinner italicized versions that are on the modern set. The big change is to the road uniforms. This look is based off a road set from the mid-1960's. The only modifications were to mirror the Northwestern stripes (flipped from yellow to black and removing the white) and making the pant stripe a single color. Also - that punting steel worker logo is too good not to use. Despite its short tenure, there's something about that set that I like better than their modern road uniforms. Agree or disagree?

 

Next up - the New York Jets with a timeless look they should always retain.

 

 

References / Inspiration

 

[jbird669]

I love the changes you made to Pittsburgh's road unis and the Dolphins as well. 

[Indigo]

On 6/5/2021 at 2:53 PM, BayBaseballFan said:

Miami Dolphins - two-tone splendor for the Phins

The Dolphins get a full overhaul on their initial era of existence in the late 1960's The helmet remains untouched. There's something sort of fun about the dolphin logo with its own helmet that sports a simple "M." The jerseys retain the same aqua and orange colors, but I wanted to get away from the Northwestern-esque sleeve stripes the team actually used. It felt a bit overdone during this time period with the Steelers, Packers and Browns all wearing some version of it. So instead the jerseys become two-tone with contrasting body and sleeve colors. I particularly like the way the road jerseys turned out. The goal was to allude to the contrast in stomach and fins if looking at the underside of an actual dolphin. The sleeve and sock stripes are simplified, while the pants remain unchanged. A bit of unorthodox look, but I think it still fits in with the aesthetic of the late 60's. Let me know what you think.

 

Next up - the Pittsburgh Steelers stick with their iconic home jerseys, but a short-lived road look is revived.

 

 

References / Inspiration

The home uniform seems too white-heavy. I don’t know what would be a sufficient replacement, with orange potentially being too bright.

[BayBaseballFan]

9 hours ago, LA Fakers+ LA Snippers said:

The home uniform seems too white-heavy. I don’t know what would be a sufficient replacement, with orange potentially being too bright.

@LA Fakers+ LA SnippersI agree. Even when I was posting them I was getting crossed up on which was the home jersey and which was the road one. I may revisit the home jersey soon and try out the orange sleeves just to see how it looks.

[BayBaseballFan]

New York Jets - Broadway Joe's Super Bowl guarantee becomes immortal

Anyone that's familiar with the Jets' upset win over the Colts in Super Bowl III knows how important a victory that was. It cemented Joe Namath's status as not only a pop culture icon, but validated his on-the-field accomplishments. It also validated the legitimacy of the American Football League after years of doubts from the NFL players and fans, as well as two previous Super Bowl failures. It's for that reason that to me the Jets' look from the late 1960's is just as iconic as some of the longstanding classics like the Packers or Bears. The team's recent update disappointed me as they shelved their modern era homage to this look. Like the Chiefs who have their permanent memorial to Lamar Hunt and the founding of the AFL, I personally think the Jets should semi-permanently retain this combo. The white helmets, the unique/unorthodox sleeve striping and Broadway Joe's signature white shoes. These are pretty direct replications of the team's actual look from that era, so my unique contribution to this was the Empire State Building secondary logo.

 

The final version included here is even more simplified than what I originally planned. This was the original version. I'm a bit baffled I didn't realize the unintentional connections to the tragedy of 9/11 until after I was done. I still like it, but it didn't feel appropriate. Maybe in the context of the late 60's it would have worked.

 

Next up - the Detroit Lions get a new car badge-esque motif.

 

References / Inspiration

[BayBaseballFan]

Detroit Lions - the Motor City crew dons some racing stripes

The first update I wanted to make when thinking about the Detroit Lions was to make the amazing stylized lion in front of the two colored bars more prominent in the identity. It was very reminiscent of car badges from the era, particularly the Mustang tri-bar logo. I've always preferred that to the various other lion helmet logos the team has used. It has a sort of a heraldic feel to it. The slim, horizontal design makes it appear fairly large on the helmet, but I think it still works. It only seemed natural to carry over the two-stripe motif from the roundel to the jerseys. I couldn't put my finger on where I'd see the dual stripe down the sleeves and over the shoulders design before until after I was done and realized it probably came from Texas A&M in recent years. The numbers get color outlines, mostly to help the TV numbers stand out against the stripes. The pants and socks stay pretty traditional. And the wordmark font - it's definitely more art deco and not of the right era, but it feels like it worked with the automotive theme. The Lions are a team that hasn't made a ton of drastic changes throughout their history, so maybe in this alternate reality they've also neglected to change their wordmark since the late 1930's. Let me you know what you think.

 

Next up - the Denver Broncos join the AFL North with a much needed helmet logo overhaul.

 

References / Inspiration

[Indigo]

1 hour ago, BayBaseballFan said:

Detroit Lions - the Motor City crew dons some racing stripes

The first update I wanted to make when thinking about the Detroit Lions was to make the amazing stylized lion in front of the two colored bars more prominent in the identity. It was very reminiscent of car badges from the era, particularly the Mustang tri-bar logo. I've always preferred that to the various other lion helmet logos the team has used. It has a sort of a heraldic feel to it. The slim, horizontal design makes it appear fairly large on the helmet, but I think it still works. It only seemed natural to carry over the two-stripe motif from the roundel to the jerseys. I couldn't put my finger on where I'd see the dual stripe down the sleeves and over the shoulders design before until after I was done and realized it probably came from Texas A&M in recent years. The numbers get color outlines, mostly to help the TV numbers stand out against the stripes. The pants and socks stay pretty traditional. And the wordmark font - it's definitely more art deco and not of the right era, but it feels like it worked with the automotive theme. The Lions are a team that hasn't made a ton of drastic changes throughout their history, so maybe in this alternate reality they've also neglected to change their wordmark since the late 1930's. Let me you know what you think.

 

Next up - the Denver Broncos join the AFL North with a much needed helmet logo overhaul.

 

References / Inspiration

I wonder, could you make the sleeve stripes different colors to match the logo? So like white/silver on the home, and blue/silver on the road

[BayBaseballFan]

20 minutes ago, LA Fakers+ LA Snippers said:

I wonder, could you make the sleeve stripes different colors to match the logo? So like white/silver on the home, and blue/silver on the road

@LA Fakers+ LA SnippersYou know  I actually had considered that when I was originally doing this set, but didn't follow through. Could be a good variant I'll have to test out soon. 

[WLD42]

On 6/9/2021 at 3:11 AM, BayBaseballFan said:

@LA Fakers+ LA SnippersI agree. Even when I was posting them I was getting crossed up on which was the home jersey and which was the road one. I may revisit the home jersey soon and try out the orange sleeves just to see how it looks.

 

I'm admittedly not an expert on football design, but could it be as simple as using non-white pants with the home to help out the color balance? The large amount of white on both home and road was what immediately stood out to me as well with Miami's uniforms, but I really like the jersey designs you went with.

 

Really liking this series, looking forward to following it!

[BayBaseballFan]

4 hours ago, WLD42 said:

 

I'm admittedly not an expert on football design, but could it be as simple as using non-white pants with the home to help out the color balance? The large amount of white on both home and road was what immediately stood out to me as well with Miami's uniforms, but I really like the jersey designs you went with.

 

Really liking this series, looking forward to following it!

That's not a bad idea. I think maybe orange pants could work, while being a bit bright. It's tough with the Dolphins traditional colors since they're so vibrant. I really dislike the mono-color look and it feels like it wouldn't be era appropriate, so teal pants are out. I might try some combinations of orange jersey sleeves and orange pants.