NFL Expansion Concepts: 40 by '34 [Project Summaries & NFL Map/TV Schedule Posted]

[Wildcomet]

Hey all, I decided after my last project here to take a spin at making some new concepts that I imagined as potential future NFL expansion teams.  Being imagined NFL teams, I tried to create brands which could feasibly fit in the NFL (no singular collective noun or concept names), while also trying at times to do things with the helmets or uniforms that may be innovative, but (hopefully) not obnoxious. In other words, the teams shouldn't feel most at home in the Arena Football League, lol. Since a goal is to build brands from the ground up, I won't be reviving old team identities like the London Monarchs. My goal was also to try to pick markets that feel realistic for the NFL (not to say cities I didn't use aren't NFL caliber, but choices had to be made).

 

The lore: "The finalized plans to move the Chicago Bears from Soldier Field to a new  domed stadium in the outer Chicago suburbs were announced in late 2023, scheduled for the 2026 season. Fan uproar over this accompanied continued pressure from fans and executives alike to better capitalize on the growing London market and to return to St. Louis. Finally in 2024, the NFL announces its first expansion since 2002. Scheduled to begin play in 2028, the league will add four teams (two per conference). This will allow the NFL to return to both downtown Chicago and St. Louis, and finally make London a permanent home with two teams sharing the UK capital.

 

Knowing that unbalanced divisions will be a problem in the long term but not wanting to go too big with the divisions or abandon the two conference alignment, the league also announces plans to add an additional 4 teams for the 2034 season (aligns with various contracts). These teams are over time awarded to ownership groups in San Antonio, Portland, Salt Lake City, and the league's 3rd international team in Mexico City. This will bring the league to 40 teams, with all 8 divisions settling at 5 teams each. The league also confirms an extended 18 game regular season starting in 2034. Teams will play their division opponents twice, and every team in one other division from each conference once."

 

This map shows where the teams will be located; I'll be releasing the 2028 teams first, then the 2034 teams. I'll start off the concepts with Chicago's new 2nd team in the next post.

 

 

Posted so far:

Chicago (Blues) - Revised version posted further down

London #1 (Guards) - Revised version posted further down + alternate uniforms/logo.

London #2 (Lancers) - Revised version posted further down + further down from there are alt. uniforms.

St. Louis (Archers) - Revised version posted further down

Mexico City (Serpents)

Portland (Cascades)

San Antonio (Armadillos) - Revised version posted further down

Salt Lake City (Utah Raptors)

League Concept Wrap-ups

[Wildcomet]

Here's my first 2028 expansion team, the Chicago Blues! I know the name is used in Madden, but it wasn't really original for them either to be fair, and I just really like it as a name.

 

The name comes from Chicago's connection to the Blues music genre. The colors were inspired by Chicago's flag, and samples of blue from pics of Lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline. My primary logo blends the letter B in a blues-inspired font with a guitar. One of the secondary logos is inspired by the stars on Chicago's flag, while the other combines aspects of a harmonica with a football and the letter C. The wordmark builds on the style of the primary logo.

 

The idea in my head for the helmet was hard to convey visually, but what I imagined is a glossy shell with the light blue base, but then incorporating the color shifting stuff similar to cars that change color based on light angles, to show the other shades of blue depending on how the helmet is lit. The uniform striping on the shoulders and pants is based on the guitar strings from the logo, as is the helmet's center stripes.

 

 

Not sure what the next team will be, but odds say it will be a team from London. I always appreciate C & C on my work so please share your thoughts. Hope you all enjoy!

[Zerovoltz]

That Blues concept is sharp!

[Wildcomet]

I appreciate the likes and comments on the first concept. Here's my second expansion team for 2028, the first of two teams to be crossing the pond, the London Guardians!

 

The team is named for London's famous Royal Guards. I have a little question still in my mind as to which logo to declare as the official primary logo, but went with the one that is based on the badge design for the Grenadier Guards (one of the Guard regiments).  I suspect that if this were a real team they would probably use the logos pretty interchangeably for a while until they figure what their fanbase most gravitates towards. If anyone has thoughts on whether the guard or crown logos would be better than the badge for the primary logo let me know (or if none are good, haha). We also have a secondary wordmark saying just Guards, as I suspect that's what they would be informally called by many fans. The Guardians would be joining the AFC East (Chicago Blues would be in the AFC North, forgot to mention that).

 

The helmet uses a black shell inspired by the guard helmets, with the secondary crown logo gracing the front of the helmet, and the player number inside the roundel element of the badge logo on the back of the helmet.

 

The uniforms also draw inspiration from Royal Guard uniforms, with the black pants & red stripe, as well as the gold elements on the shoulders and the red jersey. The jersey collars also have graphics emulating some of the pins and buttons seen on the collar of a Royal Guard uniform.

 

 

Next up will be the NFC East's London team. Thanks for checking this out, and I look forward to any C & C that gets shared.

[Wildcomet]

Appreciate the likes on the last one. If anyone has thoughts on the logo question I had still feel free to share, but for now I'll take it as I made the right choice. Here's London's 2nd team, the London Lancers!

 

The team name of course references knights and jousting. Full disclosure- the original name was going to be the London Knights, but I found out there's a sports team in London already using the name, so changed it to respect that. I based the color scheme initially on a goal to make it the opposite of the Guardians (blue/silver/white instead of red/gold/black), and found a couple shades of blue called the "Mylands of London" to use. 

 

The helmet heavily features the lance from the logo Seahawks style on a glossy silver shell. The striping on the sleeves and pants is based on the main logo's banner wrapping around the horse. I put the Lancers wordmark on the home, London mark on the away, and the main logo on the Color Rush jersey. The L-Lance secondary is featured on the pants. I was tempted to do an all-silver Color Rush ala a knight's armor but went with the more colorful option. If anyone would want to see an all-silver design though let me know.

 

 

Stay tuned next for St. Louis to round out the 2028 teams. Thanks for looking and sharing any thoughts you have!

[The Impaler]

Great start to the series, the original concepts on this forum seem to be few and far between anymore so it's nice to see something creative like this on here.  And well done on the presentation to boot.  

 

Chicago:  Primary logo is awesome.  I feel like the numbers will get lost on the blue jerseys.  The jerseys also need something a little more, lack of TV numbers may be what's standing out here to me.  Not a fan of either of the secondary logos.  I'm not seeing harmonica at all.  

 

London Guardians:  Think I'd prefer Guards here as that's basically why you named it that.  The uniforms are nice, no real complaints other than, what am I looking at under the collar?  I really am not sure what that is.  The main logo is very nice as well as the secondary hat logo.  I think the guard logo needs some work, almost seems too plain and smooth.  I think the face needs some work to be a bit more realistic.  Love the interpretation on the helmet.

 

London Lancers:  I feel like you're missing the Monarchs opportunity here.  I know it was done in the WFL and then NFL Europe.  But I think it's just so uniquely British that you almost have to do it.  On the concept itself.  I really like the primary logo, but the wordmark and L secondary logo are misses for me.  The wordmark is a bit busy and the lance is distracting to me.  The Lance secondary logos seems like two ideas slapped together in a not so good way.  Also not sure about the helmet, I like what you're trying to do, but is doesn't really read as a Lance to me.  Again on the jersey's, I'm afraid the color of the numbers will get lost on the field.  On the two London concept I feel the numbers are a bit too wide and squatty.

 

On the whole I really like what you've done here.  The one thing I noticed in looking at all three is you seem to be kind of stuck in a formula.  Dark pants, light top for homes.  I don't dislike that at all, just hope we see a bit more variation as you move forward.  

[heavybass]

Swing and a miss on an opportunity on making a London Monarchs.

[the_grateful_ted]

3 hours ago, heavybass said:

Swing and a miss on an opportunity on making a London Monarchs.

Maybe he wanted to make an original concept

[heavybass]

1 hour ago, the_grateful_ted said:

Maybe he wanted to make an original concept

Maybe

[wildwing64]

On 8/6/2023 at 4:29 PM, Wildcomet said:

Full disclosure- the original name was going to be the London Knights, but I found out there's a sports team in London already using the name, so changed it to respect that.

 

There was a hockey team with that name here, but they folded 20 years ago. (And today I learned there are a couple of other teams from different sports using that name)

 

As a Brit living a stone's throw away from London, I don't think I've seen any team play up the Guards imagery before. In my head they kind of just get lumped in with tourist tat stuff, but still it's an interesting idea for an identity.  I appreciate what you went for with the main logo but there's a lot going on and a badge like this makes me think more of the other football. The crown works well and I like how you incorporated that into the helmet, although the Guard logo probably makes the most sense as a literal depiction of the name. I agree with The Impaler that the Guards is the better name choice.

 

The London Lancers I really like and that main logo is spot on. If given a choice between the two teams then I'd probably pick them (even though red's my favourite colour!)  White numbers would probably stand out better on the home and rush jerseys.

 

Also, while I'm here; the Chicago Blues concept is fantastic.

[Wildcomet]

Appreciating the feedback, it will help a great deal! I'm taking some time to revise these three and give another look at the others in the pipeline before moving forward with St. Louis, but it shouldn't delay things too long.

 

21 hours ago, The Impaler said:

London Guardians:  Think I'd prefer Guards here as that's basically why you named it that.

3 hours ago, wildwing64 said:

I agree with The Impaler that the Guards is the better name choice.

I am going to make this change in the revision. 

 

21 hours ago, The Impaler said:

Again on the jersey's, I'm afraid the color of the numbers will get lost on the field.

That was a good note for Chicago and the Lancers so I am looking at tweaking the numbers on those.

 

7 hours ago, the_grateful_ted said:

Maybe he wanted to make an original concept

Haha, pretty much. The Monarchs are iconic in their own right, but I have actually done that team before and a big purpose for this whole concept was to do original works, not revisions (which I had done for my last couple on this forum). Maybe if I have the creative spirit still going when this is done I can do a Monarchs-inspired fauxback uniform for the Guards?

 

21 hours ago, The Impaler said:

On the whole I really like what you've done here.  The one thing I noticed in looking at all three is you seem to be kind of stuck in a formula.  Dark pants, light top for homes.  I don't dislike that at all, just hope we see a bit more variation as you move forward.  

Thank you, appreciate it! I did not consciously do that, but you are right so thank you for pointing it out! I took a look through my upcoming ones and I had done that similar pattern on 2 of the remaining, so there will be some more variety in the future on that note.

[Wildcomet]

Alright, here are the revisions I've come up with the past couple days. Hope you like!

 

Chicago: Fairly small changes here. I reversed the home & color rush jersey numbers to the dark blue with a light blue outline, and added TV numbers to the sleeves of the jerseys.

 

London Guards: This one got the most work and took most of the time. I shortened the name officially to Guards, and reworked the badge and guard logos. The badge was meant to invoke Euro football crests, but to make it more clear I changed the bottom area to have a football shape directly in the logo. It also got some general simplifying. I did some research on 'face' logos (faces are not my strength) to redo this. My first run was inspired most by the WFL Chicago Fire, this one took inspiration from a variety of designs I saw in Google Image searches. I also distorted the grey highlight on the guard helmet to give it a rougher appearance. The uniformed replaced the part that was meant to invoke the guard uniform flap and buttons with wordmarks, and on the helmet I made the chinstrap gold to align with the helmet in the guard logo.

 

London Lancers: On the uniforms I darkened the home numbers, and whitened the color rush numbers. I also replaced the L logo on the pants with the Knight head logo. The helmet I switched from just the lance to the whole main logo, and I simplified the design of the wordmark and redid the design of the L secondary logo to blend the L and lance together better.

 

St. Louis will still be on deck next. Continued C&C is welcomed, please let me know if these revisions are an improvement or not. Thanks!

[VampyrRabbit]

Chicago Blues - It's hard to go wrong with Sky Blue and Navy as a combo, and this concept is no exception, the main logo and the striping look great.

 

Guards - the improvements you made really kick this one up a notch, the collar and the helmet really make this set.

 

Lancers - Like how the austerity  of the colours contrast with the Guards and the main logo looks the business.

[Wildcomet]

Here's the last team of 2028, the St. Louis Archers!

 

The name comes from the arch primarily as I'm sure many would guess. I struggled a bit with making a logo I liked; I wanted to feature the arch, and I was trying to avoid a person shooting an arrow because of how similar that could end up to the Orlando Apollos logo. I settled on a main logo of the arch and a bow shape connecting and overlapping to form an A shape, with an arrow lined up in the bow.  The colors are derived from the St. Louis flag, and connect well with St. Louis' sports history while giving a pretty unique look in the NFL.

 

I decided to keep the uniform here with a pretty clean design; with the bright colors I figured they could do the work. I took a swing on giving the team an all-gold Color Rush uniform.  It's definitely something that will stand out, and hopefully the shade of gold help them avoid looking like bananas on the field, lol.

 

 

Let me know what you think! Barring any revisions I'll be moving on to the 2nd set of four teams next. Thanks for stopping in!

[gosioux76]

It might seem counter-intuitive, but I don't think the Gateway Arch needs to be forced into the leading visual for a brand called the Archers.  I'd give a nod to it elsewhere.

 

For example, emphasize the bow-and-arrow -- maybe do an arrow-focused helmet, akin to Florida State's spear -- and incorporate the arch in more subtle ways, like on the sleeves or along the sides of the pants. 

 

 

[~Bear]

Really like what you've done so far. The Blues identity is gorgeous, and the improvements on the Guards and Lancers look really good. I also really love the "LG" crown monogram that's used in the secondary logo and on the helmet; in general, the Guards identity feels the most "NFL-like" to me. Stellar job. 

 

On the Archers, there seems to be a lot going on. I think having a bow-and-arrow and the Gateway Arch making an "A" is creative, but I don't really think it works here. To be blunt, an arrow was NOT the first thing to come to mind, so I'd make that point a bit sharper. Also, the color scheme looks muddled on the logo. This shows up on the helmet as well, in which the logo gets lost because it's so narrow and the outline blends with the red shell. At the very least, I'd put a different logo on the helmet. For me personally, I think the arrowhead A alternate logo is the strongest in this set and maybe something to work off of, since you still get to incorporate both the idea of archery and the Gateway Arch. 

 

That being said, I do like the uniforms. The striping is unique in a good way. The number font is a little small, but I don't hate it. I'm not sure the beveling is needed in the yellow numbers, though. The color scheme works a whole lot better here and feels a lot more cohesive. 

[McCall]

Would love to hear Chicago Blackhawks fans yelling, "Let's Go Blues!"

[Wildcomet]

4 hours ago, ~Bear said:

On the Archers, there seems to be a lot going on. I think having a bow-and-arrow and the Gateway Arch making an "A" is creative, but I don't really think it works here. To be blunt, an arrow was NOT the first thing to come to mind, so I'd make that point a bit sharper. Also, the color scheme looks muddled on the logo. This shows up on the helmet as well, in which the logo gets lost because it's so narrow and the outline blends with the red shell. At the very least, I'd put a different logo on the helmet. For me personally, I think the arrowhead A alternate logo is the strongest in this set and maybe something to work off of, since you still get to incorporate both the idea of archery and the Gateway Arch. 

 

That being said, I do like the uniforms. The striping is unique in a good way. The number font is a little small, but I don't hate it. I'm not sure the beveling is needed in the yellow numbers, though. The color scheme works a whole lot better here and feels a lot more cohesive. 

 

5 hours ago, gosioux76 said:

It might seem counter-intuitive, but I don't think the Gateway Arch needs to be forced into the leading visual for a brand called the Archers.  I'd give a nod to it elsewhere.

 

For example, emphasize the bow-and-arrow -- maybe do an arrow-focused helmet, akin to Florida State's spear -- and incorporate the arch in more subtle ways, like on the sleeves or along the sides of the pants. 

 

 

 

Thanks for the advice on this one so far! Being honest, this team name came to me right away as did the colors, but I had struggled with how I wanted the logo to look. The arrowhead secondary logo at one was actually going to be the primary at one point, but when I put it on a helmet and on a sheet with the KC Chiefs logo it just felt too similar to use an arrowhead logo with red & yellow in such close proximity to them, so I demoted it to the secondary logo. I am actually going back to the drawing board, and kind of embracing the archer direction I initially avoided to instead lean into the arch imagery, so I will be reposting this with at least a new logo and helmet at some point.

[Wildcomet]

Here's my second pass with St. Louis after a solid day of tinkering and drawing. I leaned away from the arch-centered logo but did manage to sneak it into the new main logo, featuring a Green Arrow inspired archer figure holding an arrow in the bow.  This time I decided to embrace the influence of both the AAF Orlando Apollos and AFL Los Angeles Avengers logos, which are some of my favorites, but I did also purposely do some things differently to (at least try to) make it my own.  Originally I avoided this direction in part out of concern I would make something too much like those. While probably less creative, I think it's better, especially as a football logo. The bow here is a repurposed and modified version of the arch I did in the first version I shared.

 

On the helmet, I used the new logo with a gold outline around it to help it stand out more, and with that I felt a gold facemask was a better fit than the navy blue one. I also changed the number font on the jerseys so its less squatty, and changed the pants to feature the arch, with the same three-stripe pattern from the sleeves running vertically underneath it (with changes to account for the different pants color). I also added a gold stripe in the collar to help it pop just a bit more and get that color into the uniform.

 

 

Thanks again to those who offered advice on this one, generally I think this brand is much improved now. C&C will of course still be appreciated. Hope you all like!

[Wildcomet]

I'm still hoping to get some feedback on the Archers update when people get a chance, but I wanted to take the chance to share a bit of bonus content; alternate uniforms and a new Faux-back Logo for the London Guards.

 

I had the couple mentions on how I could have revived the London Monarchs... While I am happy with my London teams, I did have the thought that there was no reason the Monarchs couldn't be sort of brought back at least by one of the teams in the same way the Titans are bringing the Oilers look back this year. From that, led to these alternate uniforms and helmet from the London Guards, their "Heritage" home and away uniforms honoring the Monarchs. I recolored the Monarchs logo to the Guards colors, which really just meant changing blue to black, and otherwise did a faithful recreation of the Monarch's NFL Europe uniforms. 

 

I also had some fun with giving the Guards a VERY Pat Patriot inspired "Geoffrey Guard" faux-back logo. I know this is basically a redone and moderately modified version of the old Patriots logo, so it could never be used for real... but it was a little something for fun, haha. Hope you enjoy! The next content I share should be the next team, which will be Mexico City's franchise.