Spring Football Concept: AAFL Project

[Kooky01]

I vote for Buzz

[NativeSonX]

2 hours ago, WideRight said:

With a 9-3 lead over San Jose, I am calling this one.  

 

Congratulations to Portland, Oregon, the 5th franchise in the AAFL.  Portland will be joining San Diego and Dallas in the Western Division. 

 

 

I know you meant Houston, unless their stadium lease fell through and needed to be relocated to Arlington's Choctaw Stadium and share the calendar with the UFL's Arlington Renegades?  Nonetheless I will back the Pathfinders as I like the tie in of the colors with the Portland's oldest professional sports franchise, NBA's Trailblazers.  You may even rechristened the franchise as the Oregon Pathfinders so you can tie Crater Lake in a broader branding motif using the state's beloved National Park and the Oregon Trail which traverses the width of the state and connects back to Independence, MO that is on the other side of the state to your Rampage franchise. 

However, if the Chinook win the popular vote, I hope you would consider flipping the helmet color to salmon red, just because it allows the logo's predominant blues to pop and that it's a unique flavor of red in a league already dominated by blue helmets. You can keep the Seahawk-adjacent color scheme for the rest of the uniform kit like in your CFL-reimagined project.  I think you could tweak the logo to be less photo-realistic and more of the native wood carvings seen in totem poles across the Northwest.  Although I am unfamiliar if totem pole art extended as for south as Oregon.

[verbi]

im voting for Pathfinders, although i agree w/ @NativeSonX that i think it would be cool for a salmon color helmet, simply cause of the amount of blue going on in the AAFL so far, all great designs!

[MJWalker45]

Buzz

[TrueYankee26]

Chinook

[Blindsay]

1 hour ago, NativeSonX said:

share the calendar with the UFL's Arlington Renegades? 

In this Universe, the UFL Died

[Willij]

I vote for the Portland Pumas

[JH42XCC]

Portland Pathfinders

[Dozap17]

Portland Pumas

[Brian in Boston]

Salmon over trout? I can live with it.

 

Chinook.

[WideRight]

Here is the thing @NativeSonX, I envision the bright salmon pink very much like the neon green that Seattle has.  It works as a pop of color, but too much of it is an eyesore.  I am in no way a fan of Seattle's neon jerseys or color rush look, and I think the same would be true of a salmon helmet.    Here is what it looks like as a drawing:

 

 

I just don't think it works very well and I imagine that in real life it would be even worse.  It also means that the stripe pattern is just the contrast of the pale blue and the even paler blue, which doesn't work quite as well.  

 

I mean, if folks love this salmon helmet, I can make the swap, but in my mind the less eye popping color scheme of the blue helmet is a more realistic option.   

 

As for the navy blue thing, at least so far only 1 team has it as their helmet color.  San Diego has a navy helmet, Houston has half a navy helmet but "love  ya" blue is much more dominant, and St. Louis, like Portland, would have it only as a secondary or even tertiary color.  So far we have no navy jerseys (SD=grey, HOU=love ya, STL = orange, and the Chinook, if chosen, would be the medium blue, perhaps with navy elements).   

 

So, keep those votes coming, and next up we look for a media market in the East to make the TV networks happy. 

[WideRight]

3 hours ago, Blindsay said:

In this Universe, the UFL Died

Yes, this league exists (I picture 2028-2030 range) as TV networks and some money people did an autopsy on the UFL and figured out that with just a few alterations they could make the AAFL work. 

[PERRIN]

Chinook gets my vote, with Pathfinders as a close second.

[zoads82]

Chinook

[raz]

Chinook. With the steel blue helmet. 

[NativeSonX]

5 hours ago, WideRight said:

Here is the thing @NativeSonX, I envision the bright salmon pink very much like the neon green that Seattle has.  It works as a pop of color, but too much of it is an eyesore.  I am in no way a fan of Seattle's neon jerseys or color rush look, and I think the same would be true of a salmon helmet.    Here is what it looks like as a drawing:

 

 

I just don't think it works very well and I imagine that in real life it would be even worse.  It also means that the stripe pattern is just the contrast of the pale blue and the even paler blue, which doesn't work quite as well.  

 

I mean, if folks love this salmon helmet, I can make the swap, but in my mind the less eye popping color scheme of the blue helmet is a more realistic option.   

 

As for the navy blue thing, at least so far only 1 team has it as their helmet color.  San Diego has a navy helmet, Houston has half a navy helmet but "love  ya" blue is much more dominant, and St. Louis, like Portland, would have it only as a secondary or even tertiary color.  So far we have no navy jerseys (SD=grey, HOU=love ya, STL = orange, and the Chinook, if chosen, would be the medium blue, perhaps with navy elements).   

 

So, keep those votes coming, and next up we look for a media market in the East to make the TV networks happy. 

@WideRight - I can see your point with the salmon color translating differently IRL.  I wonder if the helmet was done in matte, pearlescent or gloss how that would make the pink "shine" or mute it enough where it doesn't get so overwhelming like the neon green is for the Seahawks.  Of course you can go the other way, deep navy for the helmet shell, but of course it would mean 3 teams are donning navy , just add two more navy clad franchises and its the USFL 2.0 all over again except navy is the new red.  In your CFL rendition you made river blue (lighter) as the predominant uniform color, but would you consider flipping it to the deep navy, that was accent color and instead promoting it as the primary for the dark jersey and pant options.  It might be interesting to replicate the striping pattern on the helmet to the pant striping and the sleeves?  I guess it would be a moot conversation if the Chinook let the Buzz saw down their lead or Pathfinders comeback and discover more votes in the wilderness of indecision?  Of course we haven't heard the last Pumas roar.

On a personal inquiry, which wide right miss is most painful to the Bills Mafia's communal psyche, Scott Norwood's still legendary 47 yard miss in Super Bowl XXV or Tyler Bass's 44 yard miss vs KC last Sunday?  I'm asking for a friend... not a Chiefs fan.  Too soon I suppose?

[heavybass]

Chinook with the blue helmet, the salmon helmet can gtfo

[WideRight]

I see Steve Kornacki up at the big board, which can only mean one thing, we are ready to call this race, and it looks like a landslide. 

 

Congratulations to the Portland Chinook!  Football returns to the PDX as the Chinook bring their combination of NW native culture, local fauna, and Seattle Seahawk influence to the AAFL.  It's Cascade blue, Navy, and salmon pink on display as the Chinook reveal their full uniforms.  In addition to the helmet stripe inspired by Chinook art, which reappears on the pants, Portland also introduces a secondary logo which depicts the team's namesake in the same PNW native art style.  And while there will be a Cascade blue jersey and a white jersey, the team has opted not to have a white pant option, going with a navy set to pair with their home jersey and a Cascade blue set for their aways.  Ombre effects are used on the numbers and sleeves of the white jersey and in the collar of the home jersey.  The tertiary mark, a "C" in colors that replicate the salmon coloration, will not appear on the uniform, but we expect it will be used as a frequent identifier of the team.  So, welcome the newest, and most aquatic, of the AAFL franchises. The Chinook. 

 

 

And now we move back to the East, and I am going to do something a little different.  We are going to delay the wide open “Wildcard” choice until the 8^th team, because after New Orleans, the 57^th largest MSA in the country, won our supposed “big market NFL city” vote, the AAFL panics a bit because they know that their TV partners expect something a bit more Top 15 than the Big Easy.  So, this next vote will be very limited.  I picked the 7 biggest viable markets east of the Mississippi that can host a team, and we are picking Eastern team #3 from that pool.  Then, when we pick round 4, we will open it up to smaller markets.

 

So, here are your choices. Will it be the 1^st NE team or will a team from the Midwest join St. Louis and New Orleans?

 

NEW  YORK/NEW JERSEY

#1 market, 19.6 million people, playing in Red Bull Arena (25k)

 

CHICAGO

#3 market, 9.3 million people, playing in Seatgeek Stadium (20k)

 

WASHINGTON, DC

$6 market, 6.27 million people, playing at Audie Field (20k)

 

ATLANTA

#8 market, 6.24 million people, playing at Georgia State Stadium (24k)

 

MIAMI

#9 market, 6.14 million people, playing at FIU Stadium (24k)

 

BOSTON

#11 market, 4.9 million people, playing at Harvard Stadium (30k)

 

DETROIT

#14  market, 4.4 million people, playing in Rynearson Stadium in nearby Ypsalanti (30k)

 

 

Let’s hear your rationales, and count your votes.  Who will be joining New Orleans and St. Louis in the Eastern Division?

[raz]

I still like Miami. Nice to get a Florida team in, and a lot of the factors of stadium and population and football interest fit nicely. 

[Vinny0930]

still going DC