Alternate History Sports / The American Football League

**Posted by Darknes** 6/16/2025 10:48 pm

It's been a fascinating time for the AFL with the expansion looming, expansion teams rising in both New York, St. Louis and Boston. As for the name the team contests.

Dallas/Texas: I could potentially see themselves angling themselves as "Texas' team" especially if the Houston PAFC team flounders about in mediocrity, with AFL's more prominent marketing Dallas could definitely do it. As for names, I could see themselves going in directions like Bulls, Wildcats (referencing Oil), or depending on his company's background he could with something like Manticores or Minotaurs.

San Francisco: Another blank slate for names here yet, could reference the Gold Rush with a weird name like Sourdoughs, could do Grizzlies or Condors with an emphasis on being a more California-centric team. Could do a different angle with the "summer of love" rising, something radical could be on the table. Could be something as simple as Anchors or Sailors with the Bay right there.

**Posted by TheEnigmaticOne** 6/17/2025 4:12 am

San Francisco Imperials for Emperor Norton could work.

**Posted by Dan O'Mac** **Online!** 6/17/2025 8:08 am

For Dallas, I like Coyotes. They're a wild animal that are in the area.

For San Francisco, maybe Gulls. They're the most prevalent bird in the area, gives you a gray and white color option to start and build on (if you go actual sea gull colors). Either way, I hope they use a foghorn like the Vikings in the NFL use their viking horn.

**Posted by ItDoesntMatter** 6/18/2025 8:19 pm

san francisco phoenix or firebirds could be cool. they've already put one on the flag and it symbolizes the city's rise from the ashes of the 1906 earthquake. you could also do something like friars given the name of the city

for dallas, if it's not the rowdies, I will find you, bear.

**Posted by TheEnigmaticOne** 6/19/2025 5:15 am

I like San Francisco Fog, but that may be a bit anachronistic.

**Posted by DireBear** 6/21/2025 5:55 pm

1958 Design Changes
After utilizing their stadium partner’s identity for the past two years, the New York Lions finally got an identity for themselves. After piggy-backing off of the Dutch Lions and getting a run to the championship, owner Peter Stuyvesant wanted to take the Lions in a different direction. Instead of using a dutch lion, he took inspiration from the New York Public Library’s lions, to be fitting for “a team of regal stature in the country’s largest city”. The new primary logo will be the stoic head of one of the lion statues, replacing the heraldic dutch lion that was used in a similar capacity. The Lions also swapped out the tuscan-inspired interlocking N-Y for one that is more blocky, though it will be relegated to secondary use. Their typeset also changes slightly to fit in line with the new secondary. Their uniforms, however, will remain the same, not wanting to change them with a miracle title run this past year.

Tri-Cities owner Bob Hester ran into the same issue that Cincinnati had a year prior. Hawks fans tuning in on television were sometimes unable to tell between the Hawks and other division rivals Detroit and St Louis, as all wore fairly similar home uniforms. Hester had read about the Lions’ new digs and got inspired. He designed a fairly simple T-C logo to put on the helmets to prevent any future confusion. The uniform set underwent a few minor changes, including adding a double stripe to the helmets and altering the home pant stripes back to how they were before the team had black pants.

C&C Appreciated! Thanks for the name suggestions! I have narrowed down them both to a few and San Francisco's will be unveiled sometime next season (and hopefully not in like a real-life year). I got the offseason to crunch through so there's still some time to send in any name suggestions for Dallas and San Francisco and draft prospects. I'm about 10 guys short of an actual draft, so if you've never sent a guy in before then now is your time.

**Posted by RightGuard** 6/22/2025 9:40 am

Dallas Roughnecks and San Francisco Miners

**Posted by Section30** 6/23/2025 9:37 am

I really like the new TC logo for the Hawks. Reminds me of the Twins obviously, but there's nothing you can really do about that since it's the same letters.