USBL Basketball League (20 Teams, Logos, Jerseys, and Courts)

[jaha32]

 

On 1/31/2022 at 6:05 AM, cLuTcHy said:

I also think your old Birmingham Bees from the EBA were pretty fire though. Not sure what your opinion is on having a team in Bama this time around?

Yeah, this Bees team is very much inspired by the Birmingham Bees from the EBA, so using Birmingham again had been a thought. Buffalo, Boston, and Brooklyn were also on my list but the northeast will already have 4+ teams so maybe Birmingham.

 

On 1/31/2022 at 5:58 AM, cLuTcHy said:

Nashville/Memphis doesn’t sound so bad. At least I do feel a team in Tennessee would work for this league. 

I agree. I am trying to have the teams spread out across the map if possible, and right now there is an empty pocket in the south so if not Birmingham, Alabama then Tennessee is likely.

 

On 1/31/2022 at 6:13 AM, NicDB said:

I guess Bees would fit Milwaukee's tendency for its teams nicknames to start with B, but I feel like calling them anything but the Hops would be a missed opportunity.

 

The only other places in Wisconsin I could see having a team are Racine or Kenosha, since there's not much of a basketball culture in other parts of the state. It also happens that the Racine Bells who you might know from A League Of Their Own had a beehive on their emblem. 

Hops would be fitting but it sounds like a Brandiose minor league project. The connection between the bees nickname and Racine Bells hadn't crossed my mind.

I also have a bear logo (the Kodiaks from my previous EBA series) that could work for Milwaukee - the Milwaukee Kodiaks or Milwaukee Bruins.

[southernbaseballteams2019]

here my suggestions:

Kenosha Bees

Green Bay Hornets

Wisconsin Hornets

Milwaukee Bees

[MilSox]

New Jersey Swamp Dragons is more Brandiose to me. Milwaukee Hops sounds like a team that would have been in the ABA if the Bucks never existed. 

Otherwise, I like Bees unless you want the challenge of making a bear mascot work for a team in Wisconsin.

[KittSmith_95]

Great work here overall, got a unique idea for the Milwaukee team name.... instead of having it be Hornets or Bees, if you care to get distinctive, why not focus on a TYPE of bee common in Wisconsin.... the Milwaukee/Wisconsin/Kenosha Leafcutters (after leafcutter bees)? 

It leans on the edge of being too niche, like most Brandoise names, but I feel it's a fun name to say. 

[jaha32]

Of the suggestions above, Hops would be the most fitting but I’m using the Bees logo and name. It’s just a matter of which city I settle on. It could be Milwaukee. It could be another.

 

This league is meant to feel like and look like one of the four major sports league so I’m sticking with larger cities and nicknames that aren’t too off the wall.

[Brian in Boston]

On 1/30/2022 at 4:54 AM, jaha32 said:

I do have a logo made for a team called the Bees which needs a home city yet.

While I know you've said that Utah wasn't in your plans as a USBL market, you might want to rethink that decision. Bees would be a natural as the name for a  Salt Lake City-based franchise.  After all, Utah is "The Beehive State" and a hive - along with several bees - figures prominently in the state seal. Salt Lake City Bees, Salt Lake Bees, or Utah Bees (alternately, Salt Lake City Swarm, Salt Lake Swarm, or Utah Swarm) would be a great brand.  

[NCCoachArete]

8 hours ago, Brian in Boston said:

While I know you've said that Utah wasn't in your plans as a USBL market, you might want to rethink that decision. Bees would be a natural as the name for a  Salt Lake City-based franchise.  After all, Utah is "The Beehive State" and a hive - along with several bees - figures prominently in the state seal. Salt Lake City Bees, Salt Lake Bees, or Utah Bees (alternately, Salt Lake City Swarm, Salt Lake Swarm, or Utah Swarm) would be a great brand.  

Salt Lake City Bees is already being used by a Triple A baseball team.

[jaha32]

8 hours ago, Brian in Boston said:

While I know you've said that Utah wasn't in your plans as a USBL market, you might want to rethink that decision. Bees would be a natural as the name for a  Salt Lake City-based franchise.  After all, Utah is "The Beehive State" and a hive - along with several bees - figures prominently in the state seal. Salt Lake City Bees, Salt Lake Bees, or Utah Bees (alternately, Salt Lake City Swarm, Salt Lake Swarm, or Utah Swarm) would be a great brand.  

 

If the Salt Lake Bees weren’t already a baseball team, I would just as soon use that name for the reasons you mentioned. I’ll figure something out for the Bees.

 

But in the meantime, the next team is nearly ready and should be up soon. It’ll be another western conference team.

[southernbaseballteams2019]

What about Utah Swarms

[jaha32]

On 2/2/2022 at 4:47 AM, southernbaseballteams2019 said:

What about Utah Swarms

Utah Swarm would work, but I'm working backwards here in the sense that I'm first set on the name 'Bees' and second choosing a city. It's a cartoon bee as well so I don't think Salt Lake needs another team with a cartoony bee.

___________

 

Moving on to the next team - the Las Vegas Stars. (This team used to be known as the Las Vegas Aces, but the WNBA team now uses that name so I changed it to Stars). The name 'Stars' isn't wildly creative, but I wanted this to sound like the type of pro basketball team you could actually see existing in Vegas for decades.

 

The logo is in the shape of the 'Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas' sign with the eight-pointed star on top. That star is also the inspiration for the team name. The lettering contains an inline on both the primary and secondary logos to give the subtle sense of a neon sign.

 

 Updated Jerseys

 

[southernbaseballteams2019]

I love it, and the color is good, but it's meh imo. But good job though

[Bomba Tomba]

I'd have to agree - not glitzy enough. Don't get me wrong, the design is solid and would stand as is in another city, but this is Vegas we're talking about.

[jaha32]

Are you guys talking about the logos or jerseys? I can tweak the jerseys to liven them up a bit, but the logo accomplishes what I intended by capturing basic iconic Vegas imagery in as few shapes as possible. Nothing groundbreaking. I could go and add unnecessary highlights and detail to “glitz” it up, but I’ve learned it’s sometimes best to have restraint when designing these things so they stand the test of time better.
 

Later I may share the other direction I was first going with Las Vegas, totally different name and logo, that eventually scrapped in favor of this.

[BobsonDugnutt]

I love the logos, I think the gold doesn't work as the primary colour on the home jersey, but that's literally my only gripe. The logo, especially the primary, is tremendous.

[jaha32]

On 2/2/2022 at 10:55 PM, BobsonDugnutt said:

I love the logos, I think the gold doesn't work as the primary colour on the home jersey, but that's literally my only gripe. The logo, especially the primary, is tremendous.

 

I appreciate it.  I went back and added another jersey option. I kept the gold but added a sublimated diamond pattern (reinforcing the shape of the Vegas sign) to make it appear shiny/glitzy. At the same time this makes the home jersey appear a slightly lighter shade of gold and differentiates them from Sacramento who also has a gold jersey.

 

Does anyone have a preference on which set is better? I'm aiming to keep gold if possible.

[BobsonDugnutt]

10 hours ago, jaha32 said:

 

I appreciate it.  I went back and added another jersey option. I kept the gold but added a sublimated diamond pattern (reinforcing the shape of the Vegas sign) to make it appear shiny/glitzy. At the same time this makes the home jersey appear a slightly lighter shade of gold and differentiates them from Sacramento who also has a gold jersey.

 

Does anyone have a preference on which set is better? I'm aiming to keep gold if possible.

Definitely the 2nd one, feels much more Vegas.

[teeray01]

I like your work.  Can't wait to see what's next!

[jaha32]

9 hours ago, teeray01 said:

I like your work.  Can't wait to see what's next!

Thanks! It’s been a while but I intend to continue with this sometime soon.

[jaha32]

I've finally gotten around to finishing up the 15th team.

 

There was some discussion earlier about where the Bees would be located and I've decided on calling them the Boston Bees. The name might ring a bell as the Boston Braves temporarily used the name back in the 1930s.

 

The logo is a cartoon bee, somewhat like the old Hugo Hornets logo, but rather than dribbling a basketball, this bee is ready for a fist fight, which fits the personality of Boston. I try to make things geometric when possible and in this case the outer contours of the bee fit within a perfect circle. This shape should fit nicely on center court. The jerseys are pretty traditional with black and yellow pattern on the sides.

 

(By the way, the font is called 'Baron' by CJ Zilligen who is a heck of designer and has made a few concept series himself.)

 

 

 

[jaha32]

This one is an updated version from my past EBA series so it might look familiar (also in use by a youth basketball team).

 

The Ohio Flight. Ohio was home to the Wright Brothers and is sometimes referred to as the Birthplace of Aviation. I wanted this one to be simple and clean - like something you'd see an NBA team use. The NBA is all about roundel logos in recent years, and as of now, this league doesn't have a true roundel, so this will likely be as close as I get.

 

The light blue represents the sky, and the two white lines on the jerseys are meant to look like the white streaks left by jets in the sky

 

The font is called "Flyer" by Mark Farris / Studio One Four, who have a bunch of great sports fonts.