UFL Branding & Uniform News 2024

[YELDARBfield]

On 12/31/2023 at 2:41 PM, ORLMagic86 said:

Most people I talk to don't even remember this league.

 

 

I literally ONLY know about this league's existence from this message board.

[Sykotyk]

Just for those that might not know... the old UFL was NOT a spring league. It's one of the reasons it struggled so much financially. Trying to play mid-week in the fall.

 

As for the USFL and XFL 'division' names... if they wanted League to be the divisions... they should've went with "Alliance" or "Association" in the 'league' name instead. Maybe the United Spring Association, United Football Association, National Spring Association, National Football Association, Spring Football Alliance, etc.

 

Having leagues inside a league just feels hokey. Also makes having the Gamblers staff rebrand as Roughnecks but play in the USFL division just feels so hack-jobbed.

[GDAWG]

Edit.

[Blast_Brothers]

4 hours ago, DCarp1231 said:

They had every chance to name the conferences USFC and XFC, but just had to keep “League” in there. For what purpose?

 

My guess is that they wanted to keep those trademarks in active use, and didn't want to file new ones.

 

I would say that it's related to brand equity... but unless they really promote each individual conference in advertising, it seems like they've already thrown that away.

[JustABallCoach]

They kept Roughnecks because, believe it or not, there’s actually some Roughnecks fans because they played games here. Never saw any Gambler 2.0 merch around town. 

[Sykotyk]

39 minutes ago, Blast_Brothers said:

 

My guess is that they wanted to keep those trademarks in active use, and didn't want to file new ones.

 

I would say that it's related to brand equity... but unless they really promote each individual conference in advertising, it seems like they've already thrown that away.

So name the overall organization "alliance" "association" "conference", etc. Not leagues inside a league.

[Red Wolf]

I like the leagues within a league naming. It's dumb, but this whole enterprise is dumb and also I'm a dumb guy that likes dumb stuff.

[GDAWG]

4 hours ago, Sykotyk said:

So name the overall organization "alliance" "association" "conference", etc. Not leagues inside a league.

 

Isn't that what the MLB is?

[Sykotyk]

1 hour ago, GDAWG said:

 

Isn't that what the MLB is?

MLB isn't a league name, originally or even today. As much as the two have merged it's two "Major Leagues". And Baseball is what they play. As opposed to Minor League Baseball. Summer League Baseball.  Or College Baseball.

 

In MLB, where is the League, Association, Alliance, Conference, Group, Organization, etc name. It's just decades of describing the two leagues combined that eventually became its name. But it's not it's league name any more than "College Football" is a 'league name'.  It's just a description of what it is.

 

If it were Major Baseball League, League of Major Baseball, Baseball Major League, etc...That would be different.

[burgundy]

1 hour ago, Sykotyk said:

MLB isn't a league name, originally or even today. As much as the two have merged it's two "Major Leagues". And Baseball is what they play. As opposed to Minor League Baseball. Summer League Baseball.  Or College Baseball.

 

In MLB, where is the League, Association, Alliance, Conference, Group, Organization, etc name. It's just decades of describing the two leagues combined that eventually became its name. But it's not it's league name any more than "College Football" is a 'league name'.  It's just a description of what it is.

 

If it were Major Baseball League, League of Major Baseball, Baseball Major League, etc...That would be different.

 

 

 

"Major League Baseball" is in fact the name of the league as a whole, and has been for over two decades. The National and American Leagues are effectively conferences now, just keeping their traditional names.

 

 

[McCall]

6 hours ago, Sykotyk said:

MLB isn't a league name, originally or even today. As much as the two have merged it's two "Major Leagues". And Baseball is what they play. As opposed to Minor League Baseball. Summer League Baseball.  Or College Baseball.

 

In MLB, where is the League, Association, Alliance, Conference, Group, Organization, etc name. It's just decades of describing the two leagues combined that eventually became its name. But it's not it's league name any more than "College Football" is a 'league name'.  It's just a description of what it is.

 

If it were Major Baseball League, League of Major Baseball, Baseball Major League, etc...That would be different.

Yeah... none of that's right. They have, in fact, been a single entity league, as beautifully illustrated by burgundy above, since 2000. "Major League Baseball" is now no different than "Major League Soccer". All of the top leagues (NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS, MLB) are major leagues. MLB kept the NL and AL designations due to the long history associated with the names. Much like the with Big Ten, despite them having 18 schools beginning this summer. Or the Atlantic Coast Conference, even though they're adding a school from Dallas... and two from the Pacific Coast.

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

21 hours ago, DCarp1231 said:

They had every chance to name the conferences USFC and XFC, but just had to keep “League” in there. For what purpose?

 

21 hours ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

Because X doesn't stand for anything.

 

20 hours ago, DCarp1231 said:

Still doesn’t answer the question. 

 

NFC means National Football Conference; AFC means American Foodball Conference

 

USFC would mean United States Football Conference, and XFC would mean . . . X Football Conference?

 

So, yes, the fact that X doesn't stand for anything does indeed answer the question why they didn't call the conferences USFC and XFC. 

 

Moreover, the use of the former leagues' intact names for the conferences reflects a recognition of the ongoing value of those names, particularly that of the USFL.  I have said before that I think it's a mistake to throw away the significant brand recognition and the broadly favourable associations of the USFL name.  The ideal way forward would have been to call the combined league the USFL, while using XFL rules, recognising XFL history, and having Johnson and Garcia as the spokespeople and the faces of the league (not to mention having a majority of XFL teams, owing to the other branding error, the decision to use the clearly inferior Houston Roughnecks identity as opposed to the classic Gamblers identity). This would cater to fans who come from both former leagues, and, more importantly, would put the new league in the best position to attract new fans.

 

Anyway, given that league is going to go with the new UFL name, it needs to mitigate the problems inherent in introducing yet another new league name to a public that has seen several new names come and go in recent years.  The way to do that is to place strong emphasis on the accumulated history of both component leagues, and to position the coming season as the ninth, after five USFL seasons (1983, 1984, 1985, 2022, 2023) and three XFL seasons (2001, 2020, 2023).  The very first thing the league should do is to compile the overall stats and to create a comprehensive website on the model of the Sports Reference sites.  

 

[DCarp1231]

14 minutes ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

 

 

NFC means National Football Conference; AFC means American Foodball Conference

 

USFC would mean United States Football Conference, and XFC would mean . . . X Football Conference?

 

So, yes, the fact that X doesn't stand for anything does indeed answer the question why they didn't call the conferences USFC and XFC. 

 

Moreover, the use of the former leagues' intact names for the conferences reflects a recognition of the ongoing value of those names, particularly that of the USFL.  I have said before that I think it's a mistake to throw away the significant brand recognition and the broadly favourable associations of the USFL name.  The ideal way forward would have been to call the combined league the USFL, while using XFL rules, recognising XFL history, and having Johnson and Garcia as the spokespeople and the faces of the league (not to mention having a majority of XFL teams, owing to the other branding error, the decision to use the clearly inferior Houston Roughnecks identity as opposed to the classic Gamblers identity). This would cater to fans who come from both former leagues, and, more importantly, would put the new league in the best position to attract new fans.

 

Anyway, given that league is going to go with the new UFL name, it needs to mitigate the problems inherent in introducing yet another new league name to a public that has seen several new names come and go in recent years.  The way to do that is to place strong emphasis on the accumulated history of both component leagues, and to position the coming season as the ninth, after five USFL seasons (1983, 1984, 1985, 2022, 2023) and three XFL seasons (2001, 2020, 2023).  The very first thing the league should do is to compile the overall stats and to create a comprehensive website on the model of the Sports Reference sites.  

 

I’ll be honest, I didn’t read all that.

 

Anyway, I guess I understand why they didn’t go that route. It’s not like they could’ve done regional conference names either. 7 out of 9 teams are all clumped together. Michigan and DC being the only not midwest or southern teams. Three teams within Texas doesn’t help matters either. Choosing to keep the Gamblers roster and coaching staff, keeping them in the USFL Conference, but slapping the Roughnecks identity on them is a pretty dumb and confusing move too.

[TBGKon]

2 minutes ago, DCarp1231 said:

Choosing to keep the Gamblers roster and coaching staff, keeping them in the USFL Conference, but slapping the Roughnecks identity on them is a pretty dumb and confusing move too.

Well, it makes sense that the Roughnecks actually played IN Houston and built a fanbase, the Gamblers never had a "home game" in Houston.

[DCarp1231]

2 minutes ago, TBGKon said:

Well, it makes sense that the Roughnecks actually played IN Houston and built a fanbase, the Gamblers never had a "home game" in Houston.

Isn’t the stadium situation still  getting figured out? Games were played at U of H, but now it seems like Rice is a leading contender.

 

 

[MJWalker45]

Anyone else expect the Steamboats jerseys to look like the Roughnecks but in different colored yokes, or do we think they'll get new jerseys instead? The rest of the USFL teams have designs that easily switch over the UA templates. 

I also hope we see a championship trophy that's closer to the USFL trophy than the XFL trophy. Maybe keep those trophies as the division trophies?

 

 

[DCarp1231]

1 minute ago, MJWalker45 said:

Anyone else expect the Steamboats jerseys to look like the Roughnecks but in different colored yokes, or do we think they'll get new jerseys instead? The rest of the USFL teams have designs that easily switch over the UA templates. 

I also hope we see a championship trophy that's closer to the USFL trophy than the XFL trophy. Maybe keep those trophies as the division trophies?

 

 

If the UFL is smart, they’d put the Roughnecks in recolored Gamblers uniforms minus the side panels.

[MJWalker45]

2 minutes ago, DCarp1231 said:

If the UFL is smart, they’d put the Roughnecks in recolored Gamblers uniforms minus the side panels.

I'd say just put them in their 2020 uniforms, but that'd be three teams in red. 

A full color navy helmet with the current logos would work great here. 

That cog logo should be somewhere on a uniform.

 

[DCarp1231]

2 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said:

I'd say just put them in their 2020 uniforms, but that'd be three teams in red. 

A full color navy helmet with the current logos would work great here. 

That cog logo should be somewhere on a uniform.

 

The cog should be on the helmet. Man, that thing is nice. Also sad to have seen the Renegade “cowboy” reduced to a secondary logo.

[MJWalker45]

4 minutes ago, DCarp1231 said:

The cog should be on the helmet. Man, that thing is nice. Also sad to have seen the Renegade “cowboy” reduced to a secondary logo.

The cowboy should be on the helmet and that AR thing on the sleeves.