Designing the World League of American Football

[BB61]

I figured you guys may get a kick out of this. Especially Mac and Pantone.

Years ago, a woman who would later be one of my co-workers gave my mother something to give to me. Her son had just been hired as Director of PR for a new team in a new league. The league was the World League of American Football, and the team was the Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks. The item was a Skyhawks game program. After the quick demise of the team and the eventual demise of the league (as both the WLAF and later NFL Europe/a), I've become more and more aware of just how awesome it is, and it's now one of my most prized sports possessions.

The program is from the Skyhawks' home opener on April 6, 1991 (which they would lose, just like they did in each of the other nine games they played that year. Aside from the game specific information (players and whatnot), the subject matter basically deals with the innovations and the development of the league itself. There are articles about the discovery of players from Europe, the new technology of the helmet radio (which is commonplace now), and the rules of the league (including the introduction of the "first to six points" OT).

The most impressive article, however, is one done by Richard Keller entitled "High Designs for a New League". The project was led by NFL Properties special projects manager Mike Boss, who was interviewed for the article. Though the league is long gone, the article provides a rare glimpse into what it's like to design indentities for an entire league from the ground up.

The project officially began in November 1989. "We met in Dallas to talk about names and other things. Then we met again in April to review everything we had been doing," Boss said. "We invited people from the NFL Properties office in London to offer a European viewpoint. We brought in the licensing people from New York. Together, we sat down and began trying to solidify a list of names to work with."

That proved a complicated proccess in itself. "There was no criteria other than wanting names that were contemporary and didn't go back to the traditional names of animals and the like. For the European teams, we sought names that related to the history and culture of their city," Boss described. "we had to run all names through legal search to make sure they cleared in licensing categories for apparel, games and toys and other promotions and products."

The final name selection -- The San Antonio Riders -- was not finished until late December [1990]. "We had been looking at a lot of names down there. At one point, they were going to be 'The Alamo'. Another time, it was the 'Lone Stars'. Then it went to 'Trail Riders' and finally to 'Riders'," Boss said. "Owner Larry Benson wanted a concept that was unmistakably Texas. So we designed a logo with a stylized version of the Texas flag and accompanied it with a silhouette of a horseman, which we had deveolped for Sacramento when they were to be called the 'Pioneers'. The colors of chocolate brown and gold make it a very pretty uniform."

From the start, Boss was limited by the colors available to him. "I went into this thing hoping we could create colors people had never seen football players wear before. I wanted to try candy apple metallic paint on some of the helmets to give the appearence you see on some automobiles. But Wilson, who manufactures the uniforms, and Ridell, the helmet people, only wanted to work with the standard colors, given the time constraints. That meant we had to take those basic colors and use them in new and distinctive ways."

Serious design work began in May, when the first tame names gained clearance. The case of the Barcelona Dragons was typical of the evolution. "They wanted the name 'Dragons from the very beginning, but we went through many dragon designs before the final version was chosen. It was designed by Los Angeles artist Jayme Odgers, who paints with a strong influence of Picasso in his work. He drew me 27 dragons, ranging from the traditional to cartoon. The final version has that Picassoesque touch. Meanwhile, we had royal blue, gold, and red as the color combination, but they insisted on green since that's the color of a dragon. I relented, because they've seen a dragon and I haven't."

The London Monarchs proved a simpler case. "We wanted to give a sense of tradition to London. That's why we chose a monogram "M" for 'Monarch' and made it in the shape of a crown. We did the uniform in royal blue with a touch of red to somewhat reflect the Union Jack, supported by a gold helmet and pants to represent royalty. Overall, it made a fine looking uniform, and I know the people in London are very, very happy with it."

"The Sacramento Surge was an interesting case. [NFL head of Marketing] Bob Sloane backed the 'Surge' as the name because it represented the computer industry in Northern California. An electronic surge. I also thought of the Sacramento River and its surging water. We took the triangle, the delta shape because Sacramento is a delta area, and placed an electronic surging "S" on it. Aqua and gold work very well for the California colors. I like it a lot, it's very simple and direct."

Design decisions for Raleigh-Durham were similarly straightforward. "They wanted red uniforms," said Boss. "We worked with a lot of different names before we finally settled on 'Skyhawks'. The idea was to come up with something futuristic that represented powered flight, of which the Carolinas are the birthplace. We wanted to come up with something unexpected, so instead of a bird, we went with rocket trails."

The Orlando Thunder was another relatively easy scheme to produce. "We had that one nailed down real fast," Boss said. "We got the name cleared early. The name 'Thunder' produced six early designs, any one of which would have been successful. That was the one concession by Wilson to use a fabric they did not have, a fluoresent lime green. It's the one jersey that's different than anything else in pro football."

Montréal's format was an idea waiting to be applied. Said Boss, "Paul Biederman, art director for the creative services group in our New York office, came up with that concept. THe idea was to use an 'M' as iff it were created by a large stamping press to project that feeling of a big, powerful entity. We tried a lot of variations on the letter, and this one was the most successful over the long haul. We colored it machine gray and placed it on a burgundy background to make it stand out."

In Birmingham, Boss stated, "The fire image was one that everybody liked. I decided one day driving into work that we should put the flame on the sleeves and helmet. Everybody liked it immediately. We picked up the navy for Auburn and the Crimson for Alabama and combined it in a way that was an entirely different color combination. It makes a very strong uniform symbol.

The decision process for the New York/New Jersey Knights was a study in contrasts. According to Boss, "The people in New York told me early on that they wanted black and silver. For the name, they quickly chose 'Knights'. I wanted to get away from the swords and shields, the classic knight symbols. We tried some things with the New York skyline and art deco approches to capture the sense of New York at night. Then it occured to me that a knight is also a critical chess piece. So why not take that symbol of a horse and give it a modern twist with a starburst in the eye."

In the end, the evolution of the Frankfurt Galaxy design became a microchasm of the entire undertaking. "Galaxy was always the name for Frankfurt, althought it went through many, many changes before we ended up with what we have. We worked with a purple background, with burnt orange and crimson as supporting colors. One day, I picked up the Los Angeles Times and on the front page was a full-color reproduction of a photograph taken by a new telescope of a heretofore unknown galaxy. It was a kind of spiral nebula, a beautiful shape in the sky. We took that image, put it into a computer and applied the printout to our design."

Aside from the inevitable sublte adjustments to the basic form, the weighty project of giving graphic life to the World League was completed three months before opening kickoff. Already Boss was convinced that the results more than justified the expended energy.

"I relly feel it was a success", he concluded. "The feedback I'm getting is very, very good. Every team has embraced their logo and colors with enthusiasm. Everyone thinks theirs is the best of the bunch".

[NorthStar74]

Whoa.. cool one... so that how the WAFL was formed with teams and logos and colors... I think I did see a Montreal Machine game on tv one time only... wished I had taped the game to see again.. oh well but loved the Machine helmet with the M logo on it.. very cool... the Surge logo I was really keen on as well... and the other team logos I thought was interesting as well....

[kewp80]

Very cool article, thanks for sharing.

[timparry]

Very cool article, thanks for sharing.

Thanks for bringing back that memory, I remember reading that back in 1991 in a New York/New Jersey program. I thought it was cool how they came up with the Frankfort Galaxy logo. Imagine if they used today's technology for it?

My seat in the Knights pressbox was between a guy from a Japanese paper and an alternative weekly from Long Island. But there were people from papers all around, with hopes of the league really going global.

[BB61]

I'm glad you guys like it. Especially since it took me almost an hour to type it all out.

The most amusing part is in the little two page blurb about the San Antonio Riders where they have a sketch of the Alamodome and the caption that the Riders would begin playing their games there in 1993. Guess not.

[timparry]

Imagine if they used today's technology for it?

We get the ABA?

I thought the ABA is Crayolas and Clip Art?

[eSabre]

God I miss seeing those Orlando Thunder unis in action.

[averyj]

I'm glad you guys like it. Especially since it took me almost an hour to type it all out.

Are your knuckles bleeding???

[Sodboy13]

Thanks for that, Brain. It really showcases what solid identities were developed for those teams. Out of all the WLAF/NFLE teams, I can't say that any of the identities weren't major-league caliber. Though I'd put the Skyhawks and the Sea Devils on the low end of the bunch. Barcelona, Orlando, Scotland, San Antonio, Ohio, and London were all top-notch.

[BigEd76]

God I miss seeing those Orlando Thunder unis in action.

This uniform during sunny games = fun for TV

[-kj]

I still want one of those Thunder jerseys.

[eRay]

So why not take that symbol of a horse and give it a modern twist with a starburst in the eye.

oh, of course, why not, thats logical.

good read, thanks for taking the time to post.

[BB61]

I'm glad you guys like it. Especially since it took me almost an hour to type it all out.

Are your knuckles bleeding???

Yes, but not from the typing.

Y'know, while everyone makes fun of those Thunder jerseys, I think they looked awesome with the blue numbers and the white helmet. It could've been better, yes, but it could've been a whole lot worse.

Incidentally, I know that somewhere back home I have an Ohio Glory program from the next season (Raleigh-Durham moved to Columbus in '92, where they won the only game in franchise history, going 1-19 between two cities in two seasons). I'll have to see if that has anything of note (if I can find it)

[TruColor]

Fantastic. Thanks for that. Hadn't seen it until now...I was driving back to Denver from Minneapolis all day yesterday...

I especially like the blurb about the Dragons' choice of Green...

On a selfish note: does anyone have the official Pantone colors of these American WLAF teams? I have never been able to find them; all of my entries in my database are estimates. I could probably work out a "trade" of sorts if someone is willing to share...

[smzimbabwe]

I have the first program of the San Antonio Riders, I remember that article being in there. I also have a London Monarchs jersey with a World Bowl patch and the first season complete trading cards...

[BB61]

On a selfish note: does anyone have the official Pantone colors of these American WLAF teams?

Would one be able to get that out of, say, the program?

[CDuffy26]

I luckily got to go see an Ohio Glory game back in 1992. They lost...horribly...but it was a fun game nonetheless. They played in Ohio Stadium, which seemed like a cavern when there wa sonly about 10,000 people there.

[Mac the Knife]

A fun read. Much appreciated.

I always thought the Skyhawks look was contrived. Now I know why.

[TruColor]

On a selfish note: does anyone have the official Pantone colors of these American WLAF teams?

Would one be able to get that out of, say, the program?

Possibly. They would be designated as "PMS" numbers more than likely.

Just an FYI - "PMS" refers to PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM, a term that was phased out by Pantone, Inc. However, it was recently brought back - probably due to the fact that Pantone released a new Solid/Spot color system - the PANTONE Goe System. So now there are TWO color systems for spot or solid colors.

[BB61]

A fun read. Much appreciated.

I always thought the Skyhawks look was contrived. Now I know why.

Honestly, even though I had that description in front of me, I couldn't tell what that was until a few years ago. I just didn't see it. It looked more like an arrowhead or a stealth plane than anything else.