1970 Post-Meetings Press Conference - Patterson Athletics Jersey Reveal

Most of the press conference centred around questions about the new deal with the WFU, and Jameson would give the important details as laid out in the previous post. Once, those questions were asked and Jameson wrapped up his part of the conversation, he turned the floor back over to Oscar Patterson who would talk about the new jerseys. 

As Patterson took the spotlight he would have a blank uniform set with him. He would go over the details of the improvements the team at Patterson Athletics was making to the uniforms for this season. He showed off the new, lighter materials that the set had. He noted the shorter sleeves on the jersey and the more fitted style to work with pads under the jersey. He also was happy to show off the Patterson Athletics logo just under the collar on the back of the jersey.

When it came to the actual designs, Patterson would note that there were some limitations the team had to make for cost reasons as well as limitations on the time the team had to design 13 brands, plus now 5 more to come. The biggest is that teams would only be allowed one pair of pants in their set, which would be worn with both the home and away jerseys. Also, alternate uniforms would also not be included in the first season of the partnership. 

Ryan Jameson would have a final word stating that part of this new partnership is a mandate that each team have a logo that would be much more applicable to print. Specifically, teams with “hand drawn” logos or logos with awkward sizes would need to get an update to something more 2D and simple. Jameson hopes that the refreshed looks will help with the league’s branding and make league-branded prints easier to produce.

At the end of the conference, Patterson was excited to reveal the new looks for 3 teams going into next season. Of course, he prefaced the reveal with the fact that these teams are the ones that had the least changes to their brand. While it wasn’t super exciting he felt those teams would be the best to show off the new jersey template on the players.

As each team was revealed a couple of the team’s players would model the jerseys.

Indiana Victors

The Victors updated their look ahead of the 1967 season, and it has been a hit with the fans. So, the team wanted to keep the fresh design as they transitioned to the new template.

Logos: Nothing changes with the logos for this update. The shield logo remains the primary mark with the torch logo being the secondary but may be used in some print circumstances. 

Uniforms: Not many changes with the uniforms. The only differences are the numbers moving to the shoulders of the road, as well as a white facemask, which only 2 teams will be using this season.

Field: The logo at midfield is over top of the centre line, but the rest of the field remains unchanged.

Montreal Rouge

The next team is the Montreal Rouge who also wanted to keep the design they have had since 1965. While the fans were initially not huge fans of the look, they have grown to love it, and owner Alvon Martineau is glad because he really loves the look.

Logos: No changes to the logos occurred.

Uniforms: The jerseys are also much the same, but a pair of white stripes have been added to the helmet.

Field: The logo at midfield is now over top of the centre line, but the rest of the field remains unchanged.

Toronto Steelheads

Finally, the Toronto Steelheads also kept their most recent update intact. Owner Jerry Anderson still loves the look and refused any changes to the jersey aside from larger maple leaves on the shoulder. 

Logos: No changes to the logos occurred.

Uniforms: As mentioned the maple leaves on the sleeves are slightly larger this time, while the numbers are moved to the shoulders to make space for the leaf and stripes. 

Field: Nothing changes with the field for this season.

*This is going to take a few posts, I would like to spread out the designs so that they all don’t come out at once. I mean explaining 18 designs in one post is a lot. Plus that will help to increase the excitement levels. I will be doing these in order of least changes to most changes, so the longer a team takes to be unveiled the more significant a change they will get.*

Last edited by Wallflower (4/07/2023 10:52 am)

Thehealthiestscratch wrote:

Wallflower wrote:

Rugrat wrote:

Nobody gonna talk about how the NAAF now has two teams called the Tigers? Anyhow, I look forward to what this brings for everyone's favorite fictional hybrid football league. Can't wait to see the looks of the former WFU teams!

Yea baby!

 

London Tigers vs Calgary Ti Gers

Or London Tigers Vs. Calgary Tiger-Cats

Last edited by ZO82 (2/04/2023 3:52 am)

1970 Brand Changes - Part 2

The next set of teams to be revealed were teams that were forced to make changes to their logos but didn’t make a lot of changes to the uniform.

Boston Independents

Boston was not necessarily forced to make a change, but the team felt that a better-looking logo might be a good upgrade while not straying too far from the tradition of the brand.

Logos: The Independents get rid of their abnormally long interlocking “B-I” logo, and get a new, much more balanced version of the logo to replace it. They also have gotten a new font for their wordmark.

Uniforms: The uniforms don’t see a big change. The pants have a darker shade of tan/gold which better matches the sleeve stripes. The TV numbers are also moved to the shoulders for both logos.

Field: The only change to the field at Richardson Stadium is the midfield logo, which is now an all-white version of their updated logo.


Buffalo Blue Wings

The defending champs were practically called out by Jameson over the new logo mandate with their winged buffalo logo, but frankly, owner Milton Charles, also felt it was time to get a better logo for branding. Oscar Patterson would take the lead on the design for the logo of his former team and certainly didn’t disappoint.

Logos: The new logo is still a winged buffalo, but just the silhouette with the horn being the defining detail outside of the silhouette. The alternate logo is also new with a winged B that is expected to be used in other parts of the brand.

Uniforms: The big change to the uniforms is the wing on the helmet which Patterson, who had inspired the original, got a chance to make perfect, at least in his eyes. The wing is much stronger now and matches the wing on the primary logo. The team also joins Indiana as the only 2 teams to experiment with a white facemask.

Field: The field at Milton Charles Stadium remains the same except for a new helmet logo at midfield to reflect the new helmet design.


London Tigers

The Tigers have gotten by recently with their “L-T” logo, but they really needed to move on from the tiger head, and they would go with a new direction while keeping the brand the same.

Logos: The new logo is a tiger paw with the “L-T” logo still on the palm. The “L-T” logo remains secondary though the stroke is now removed.

Uniforms: The uniforms remain the same general design. The Helmet now features the new paw logo. The team also adjusted the orange in the design to be more red than before making for a more vibrant orange colour.

Field: Western Fair Stadium doesn’t see any changes to the field. 


Louisville Thunder

Lucky Thunder needed a bit of a facelift and would get it with the Thunder’s new look.

Logos: Lucky Thunder gets a much more simple look with the angular horse head, featuring a lightning bolt trailing from his eye. The alternate is now a curved bold, while the team is using a new font for their word mark.

Uniforms: The new lightning bolt is on the shoulders, while the bolt on the road is now red instead of gold with a red outline.

Field: Thunder Stadium has swapped out the NAAF logo in favour of their new primary logo, while the endzones have been simplified to read “Thunder”.

Last edited by Wallflower (4/07/2023 10:54 am)

Lucky Thunder felt to me not as "lightning coming off the eye". When I first saw it, I thought Lucky was being struck in the eye by lightning. I assume it's because the wider part of the bolt is at the neck.

1970 Brand Changes Part 3

Today, we start to get to some teams making more changes all around. These three teams get some minor to major changes to their logo, as well as some changes to their uniforms.

Minnesota Serpents

The Serpents have only been around for a single season, but they are making changes to their uniforms already. Owner Kris Matheson and Oscar Patterson agreed that the initial design of the team wasn’t quite right and they would make some changes to the uniforms.

Logos: The logos weren’t touched much aside from the tooth on the serpent was changed to silver for most applications.

Uniforms: The biggest change for the uniforms is the swap to silver pants from white. The striping throughout the uniform is also more consistent. The overall motive with the new design was to bring silver in a lot more than on the previous design after it was left to a single stripe on the jersey sleeve on the previous set.

Field: With the Serpents still sharing Midgard Stadium with the University of Minneapolis, the field does not see any changes for the 1970 season.

Ottawa Royals

The Royals have lots of history with their design, but after the Patterson team got the opportunity to refresh the Royals’ black letter font, Royals’ owner Laura McNeil, absolutely loved it and allowed for some more changes.

Logos: The new logo features the new black letter font with a refreshed crown that now just sits above the “R” instead of on top of it. The primary mark also features a banner around the logo as a call to royal imagery. 

Uniforms: The updated crown is applied to the helmet as the old crown has always been. The home uniform doesn’t change much, but the road does see some changes due to the limitation of one pair of pants. The look needed to have more purple and so the striping pattern features more purple than the previous look. The final change sees the Royals use the black letter as the captain’s patch. 

Field: Royals Stadium will now feature the banner logo at midfield which helps to replace the purple box that had been placed at midfield for the last couple of seasons. The endzones simply see the new wordmark replace the old.

Pittsburgh Blacksmiths

The Blacksmiths went through a lot of different design options which included some more dramatic changes, that featured a lot more orange, but ultimately a more safe choice would be made in the end. The more charcoal-focused design better captured the brand of the blacksmiths.

Logos: The big change is the swapping of the primary and secondary marks. The primary is now just the “branded P” logo, while the secondary logo includes the anvil. The logo is also simplified with the black border applied to the previous design removed. 

Uniforms: The uniform gets a much-needed update, with the very unique square is removed from the TV numbers, but it stays in the design to surround the captain’s patch. The new sleeve design now just features a single orange stripe below the stencil numbers. 

Field: With the Hammers still holding onto dear life over the stadium rights, the field doesn’t change for Pittsburgh going into next season. 

Last edited by Wallflower (4/07/2023 10:56 am)