RAIDERS Endzone Font

[Burning River]

OK... Again, the RAIDERS end-zones made their post-baseball appearance yesterday. Black end zone with silver/gray (grey) lettering. I will NOT call it a word mark. Again, is this even a font? Does it look as bad in person as it does on tv. With the camera angles, the font used looks very unbalanced. Too much thick-n-thin within each letter. Plus there are WAY too many chamfers (diagonal cuts) on each letter. Is this sort of a throw-back font or something?

I guess my main question is:

Have any one of you re-created the lettering to get a true feel for what this looks like "head on"?

Thanks!

[JQK]

That endzone design has it's roots in the 70's... It was changed when they went to LA, and i think the first year back in Oaktown they used their wordmark in the endzone.. then i think for that old raider feeling, they went back to that 70's "handpainted" type of endzone, and it's been like that since.

[slapshot]

Yeah, it's very crude in a way (fitting for Oakland). Definitely doesn't match the font of the lettering in the logo (Futura Extra Bold), and doesn't even match the font used in numbering the yard lines (some version of Times).

[DrBear]

I think the font used for the NFL numbers is Caslon, which is described as "old fashioned but readable" and is NFL-mandated.

I've wondered why some place (Green Bay) doesn't go old-school and go back to an older design with, say, diamonds in the end zone (think Missouri) or something similar instead of what seems to be the NFL standard - wordmark in one end zone, city name in the other. (Well, Pittsburgh is halfway there)

[WSU151]

I think the font used for the NFL numbers is Caslon, which is described as "old fashioned but readable" and is NFL-mandated.

I've wondered why some place (Green Bay) doesn't go old-school and go back to an older design with, say, diamonds in the end zone (think Missouri) or something similar instead of what seems to be the NFL standard - wordmark in one end zone, city name in the other. (Well, Pittsburgh is halfway there)

The Raiders' field numbers are different than any other team in the league. And there's plenty of teams that don't have city name, team name endzones.

Green Bay, perhaps San Diego and Arizona (can't really remember), Indianapolis, Chicago, and Oakland are the only teams with city in one endzone, team name in the other.

[BBTV]

I've always wondered that about NFL field numbers. They all seem to be the same standard stencil (with the above mentioned exception of Oakland, which I haven't seen for myself), but they could look a lot better if they matched the teams jersey number fonts (for teams with unique fonts.)

Some college teams (Penn State comes to mind) also have unique numbers, and I think it is really cool. The NFL should loosen some of their restrictions.

For example, here's how the Eagles field would look:

[slapshot]

The current "default" font for yardline numbers in the NFL is a form of Caslon. I don't remember where I read it, but it's fairly close. Some teams have an open "4", others have the closed version.

The NCAA has no specification for the yardline number font, only that it's legible and of a certain size. Some schools, like LSU, have them every 5 yards (which makes the field look crowded). Many of the schools that have artificial turf fields use Helvetica or Arial (Boston College) for the numbers.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

I saw a bit of the Raiders game on highlights yesterday, and I almost created a topic here about it, but in a different vein. I really, really like the Raiders' endzone. It looks so amateurish, so plain, and so boring that I can't help myself but to like it -- especially considering some of the more professional fields today (have you seen the ridiculous LSU "eye of the tiger?" Yeesh).

The Raiders font reminds me of old SNES and Genesis football games with generic fonts in the endzone. That's exactly what it looks like -- a generic Madden 93 font or something. I'm all for a little less professionalism in the NFL, if only to keep us from monstrosities like the Bills and Bengals uniforms.

[Puckguy14]

It's disgusting. It wouldn't be too bad if they had this when they returned from Los Angeles with this but. When seeing how great the real wordmark looks along with a complementary Oakland looks absolutely great and complements the logo at the 50 yard line.

As for the yard numerals, strangely enough the numerals that McAfee Coliseum uses is the same ones the NFL uses on it's sample field markings. I believe Invesco Field (or the new Mile High as Bronco fans would like it)

[WSU151]

(have you seen the ridiculous LSU "eye of the tiger?"  Yeesh). 

The eye of the tiger is the best mid-field graphic ever. Show me one that's better.

And Puckguy, were you going to finish that thought?

[Discrim]

I think the font used for the NFL numbers is Caslon, which is described as "old fashioned but readable" and is NFL-mandated.

I've wondered why some place (Green Bay) doesn't go old-school and go back to an older design with, say, diamonds in the end zone (think Missouri) or something similar instead of what seems to be the NFL standard - wordmark in one end zone, city name in the other. (Well, Pittsburgh is halfway there)

The Raiders' field numbers are different than any other team in the league. And there's plenty of teams that don't have city name, team name endzones.

Green Bay, perhaps San Diego and Arizona (can't really remember), Indianapolis, Chicago, and Oakland are the only teams with city in one endzone, team name in the other.

anyone recall how the Raiders had their yardlines back in the AFL days? instead of traditional numbers, they had white Raider shields with black numbers. I always like seeing those old Raider highlights partly cus I wanna see them shields.

[DenverJ]

(have you seen the ridiculous LSU "eye of the tiger?"  Yeesh). 

The eye of the tiger is the best mid-field graphic ever. Show me one that's better.

Agreed. That LSU "eye of the Tiger" logo at the 50 is one of the best painted field graphics out there..

[bsilva1]

LSU's eye logo is much better than Auburn's, and that is all that really matters. I don't get the green eyes or the freshly waxed brows.

[VitaminD]

Yeah, it's very crude in a way (fitting for Oakland). Definitely doesn't match the font of the lettering in the logo (Futura Extra Bold), and doesn't even match the font used in numbering the yard lines (some version of Times).

UNC used a font very similar to what the Raiders use about a decade ago, before they updated their logos and wordmarks. It didn't fit their identity package either, but it was that way all 4 years I was in school there (white letters on a Carolina blue base). I've never seen it anywhere else, and I am not sure what the inspiration for it is, especially since the Raiders' traditional (Futura Bold) wordmark is so readily recognizable.

[WSU151]

UNC used a font very similar to what the Raiders use about a decade ago, before they updated their logos and wordmarks. It didn't fit their identity package either, but it was that way all 4 years I was in school there (white letters on a Carolina blue base).

There was something cool about those endzones. I remember watching a Georgia Tech @ UNC game in '92 and '93 or so, and saying to myself, "That field looks really good!" The letters looked traditional and old-school.

Clemson sort of had the same thing way back when.