10-12-2022, 10:45 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-16-2022, 10:15 AM by dude_man. Edited 1 time in total.)
As probably a few remember, there was an article that I used a while ago to gather up all of the league’s logos and keep track of the different histories that each logo has. It was a big undertaking to find, double check, save, triple check, and then make different timelines for each of those teams. The last few logos have not been updated yet but I will eventually remake those now that I am not working on this article. This has been something I have been working on for at least six months on and off again with a lot of things keeping me busy from sitting down and working, but I have finally managed to complete everything instead of sending out those small tidbits into different locker rooms to close friends to give a taste of what this is. Instead of actual league history, I have instead made my own logo history. To get years to focus on, I chose the closest teams to teach ISFL team and did my best to match up how many times each real team changed their logo to influence the era I wanted to copy. Each team will get an “in character” explanation for their logo’s history and, if you are interested, I will explain my thought process through the logos in comments. Finally, I present:
Arizona Outlaws (Years by: Arizona Cardinals)
The Outlaws started the league as this rough and tough group of players out in the middle of the desert trying to make a name for themselves. According to the Phoenix newspaper, the team had a “target on them” when it came to trying to compete in the smaller National Simulation Football League back in the 1920s. The team logo was made to match the target idea as they brought focus on their classic jerseys. It wasn’t until the team returned from World War 2 that they would revisit the drawing board for a new logo as they moved on from feeling like a loner team and instead had the first look at the iconic Outlaw that still shows on their logo today. It was much more simple back then, most jerseys not even having a logo on them anyway. That would continue into the 1960s as the team tried to call on their Arizona roots to gather more fans for their games as more teams joined the league. As more fans came in, more kept calling for a removal of the Outlaw logo and the team went with the classic font that adorned their chests back in the 1950s. It was a very tough look as the team played with plain black helmets as well for two decades. Then in 1988, the team brought the Outlaw once again and it wouldn’t leave a second time.
Austin Copperheads (Years by: Texas Longhorns)
When the 1960s rolled around, Texas felt that it needed to join the league and Austin was decided as the best fit for the state to host a team. They wanted to avoid having a similar team to Austin with a cowboy style theme so they decided to pick their worst fear, snakes. The Copperheads began life with a simple logo that featured a snake rearing its head with a coiled C for the team name. The simple colors were easy to keep track of with merchandise as well and a lot of the team felt that the classic snake logo made for great shirts but bad for helmets. To fix this, the team switched early on to a more helmet friendly logo with a triangle to make the team’s C logo pop. This look would last for around a decade, still being used in conjunction with the old snake logo to keep everyone aware of the team’s mascot still. In the late 1970s, the snake returned to the Copperheads and they decided for a much more fierce logo instead. There were worries about how simple the logo was, but Austin continued to focus on the triangle snake logo for years. At the turn of the century is when they finally decided to step out of the simple and into the modern with a bright star logo and a full snake.
Baltimore Hawks (Years by: Baltimore Orioles)
The Baltimore Hawks were one team that originally joined with a simple logo to try advertising to all ages. A fun hawk logo was easy for everyone to get involved with the new team but it did not really represent the area of Baltimore. The team held a contest before deciding on the buff hawk look. While it was the team’s official logo for decades, the team rarely used in on jerseys or helmets and it instead was only seen on the team’s field and in any broadcasting. Controversially, the team used a winged B logo that appeared in the late 1980s on the team’s helmets as the official logo when the 1990s began, but team owners were swiftly shown the move was bad and had to come up with something to change away from the childlike hawks of the past and into the future. The much more aggressive hawk heads were adapted and even a color shift to focus more on gold would come toward the late 1990s. From their the full adaptation of the Maryland state flag would mix in with the Hawks’ logo with both the “Banana Hawk” and the current Hawk logos.
Berlin Fire Salamanders (Years by: Berlin Thunder)
The efficiency that is seen in a lot of German engineering was seen in the team’s league logo as the Fire Salamanders used only two logos throughout its history. Their first logo was more inspired by non-athletic brands and the team was more than happy to keep it as a fun logo when joining the league. After all, the team name was not the most fierce creature in the world and it made them unique. The original logo stuck with the team for twenty-one years even though it was rarely used outside of broadcasts or team merch. In 2021, the Berlin Fire Salamanders adopted their current logo with an even more unique look as they brought the actual fire with their new look.
Chicago Butchers (Years by: Chicago Bears)
One of the long lasting teams with the Arizona Outlaws, the team was much quicker to represent the team’s local history with their debut logo featuring a star straight from the city’s flag. The founder took five pages of the local newspaper to explain the exact reasoning for why the team needed to exist and why the name “Butchers” was chosen without a survey like other teams had taken. The next year the team would move into the Butcher look much more since everyone in Chicago was more than happy to just have a team regardless if it fit the area of not. The “Boar-cher” logo was everywhere in the city and its cap was usually a hot ticket item for the first hundred fans to enter the stadium every opening home game. The logo would eventually change to focus on the actual butchers themselves around the end of World War 2 to appreciate each of those workers taking time to provide for those of the city of Chicago. An official announcement from the founder again would come out as the team adopted the famous Y symbol that was already around the city. People would try to come up with new logos over and over but that Y symbol logo would remain until a new designer would introduce the chopping fist logo in 1974 which the team has held since even despite attempts recently for change.
Colorado Yeti (Years by: Denver Broncos)
Beginning life as the Denver Grizzlies, the orange jerseys were a sight to behold for three decades as the team varied through many different bear logos that have been forgotten to time with recent managers and public relations to avoid the old “unoriginal” history. The first official logo was made in 1962 after the team used various, unregistered bear paw logos for their first two years. The angry Grizz was an iconic look during the 1960s in Denver and would be expanded on in the 1970s and 1980s. Denver constantly was covered in orange and lots of growling pride as the team worked hard to keep the fans happy. Unfortunately, in 1990, the team would lose millions in bad signings and the team’s founder would leave the team entirely in the wake of the financial loss. The first few years the team did not officially remove their logo but there was rumors that the team might move out of the state. It was almost a done deal until a new owner took over and did a complete rebrand of the team in hopes that they could remove the bad taste of the Grizzlies from Denver. A new stadium was built outside of downtown, new big names were signed, and the decided to adopt the red and black Yeti logo now to cement all of the changes. Did things work? Well the team may not have seen much success after the new owner came in but the team managed to rewrite their history as the Yeti and have not looked back since their final logo change in 1997.
Honolulu Hahalua (Years by: Hawaii Rainbow Warriors)
Much like the Berlin Fire Salamanders’ efficiency when it comes to keeping a brand, the Hahalua were focused on creating the perfect Hawaiian vibe with their logo all the way back in 1982 when they made their initial splash onto the league. Everyone was surprised that a team in Hawaii could work, but they brought plenty of fans and attention into the league with a lot of amazing gamedays in the tropics. Their first logo was praised by many and allowed the team to have a unique winged formation on their helmets. In the late 1990s, the team wanted to do an update on the logo to keep things fresh and went with the unique look that they use today. The winged helmets may be gone, but the Hawaiian experience still remains deep in their brand.
New Orleans Second Line (Years by: New Orleans Saints)
Another team that tries to avoid its past, but has recently made attempts to honor the old logos, the Second Line have not always made big attempts to change their logos outside of color changes. They wanted to try to avoid making any drastic changes even back when the team was in Las Vegas and tried to either decide on a dark gold or bright gold when deciding their official logo. The team would lighten their gold in 2002 officially yet there were still plenty of broadcasts or merch that featured the old gold look the team briefly had. When moving to New Orleans, the same issue persisted where they attempted to use darker colors at first but would decide that lighter colors would fit better with the Mardi Gras scene in their new home.
New York Silverbacks (Years by: New York Giants)
The Big Apple received its first team as troops returned from World War 2 and was dubbed the New York Silvers to represent the many skyscrapers that the city had and that the team would be playing around. Newspapers would print out variations of the combined NY logo with and without the team’s badge through their first decade or so which made it difficult to keep track of which one was official. Most decide the clean NY was the first team’s logo due to its first appearance being a few years before the badge one while the badge did not pick up prominence until 1950. Then the team would ditch the combined letters in favor of a New York skyline with the team’s name “Silvers” across the front. It gave the team a much more city-centric look and jerseys would often have hand-stitched outlines of the city skyline along the chest. This made it difficult to carry away game uniforms so the team had to come up with a fix. A contest was held among fans in the 1960 season to come up with a new team name and the transition from the towering buildings of New York would soon go to the beast that had conquered them, King Kong a silverback gorilla. The city skyline was ditched for another team badge featuring a peaceful gorilla that was designed by another contest in the offseason which grew on people quickly. Then, as the more hard-hitting 80s were coming around, a change was made to make the logo much fiercer and intimidating. The logo would become a favorite of many before the Art Deco look would add with the intimidating logo in 2000 where the team felt comfortable keeping the logo from there.
Orange County Otters (Years by: UC Irvine Anteaters)
Originally seen as an odd choice for a team name, Orange County went the route of the Hahalua with a much more relaxed mascot as they focused on representing the more casual aesthetic of southern California. The team’s logos all have represented that well and the team has not gone too far into any direction with their minimal changes. The team did attempt for a more “football-ish” logo in 1998 but the team owners still reasoned that it was enough to go back to more of an otter look. They were not as bothered with wanting to create an intimidating brand like other teams so they instead transitioned back in 2009 to a regular otter head that brought back similar styles as their original logo. In 2014, they worked on blending both styles and were met with a mixed bag of criticism and praise. Plenty of supporters of the old logo did not see a reason to change from such a recognizable brand while others were happy to see an intimidating otter be the face of Orange County again.
Philadelphia Liberty (Years by: Philadelphia Eagles)
Much like the New York Silverbacks, the Philadelphia Liberty was created as troops returned to the States and were looking for new jobs. The Liberty also took full pride in those men’s fighting spirit and wanted to get the city of Philly a proper team to support. “Liberty” was printed across every player’s jersey which became a huge hit with fans all across the state of Pennsylvania. The team originally wanted to focus on the American symbolism with the star logo. Then, the team transitioned to the city itself once the war had officially ended and brought on the Liberty Bell in full force. Their red bell was wheeled out to every game they played and would ring after every touchdown the team scored. Some said the original bell developed a similar crack to its namesake and had to be replaced in 1955, but no records back up this story. The team would eventually change their logo to match the helmets the team wore as wearing them became much more popular and required in the league. From there, the red bell had been replaced with a golden bell that would get updated to match the different eras. The golden bell we see today was designed off of a contest and was a winner by a narrow margin over some other close competitors.
San Jose Sabercats (Years by: San Jose State Spartans)
One team that has seen its fair share of logo changes, but the same manager throughout, has been another team located out west in San Jose. The team debuted with two different big cat logos that received plenty of love from the team’s early fans. San Jose’s mascot was featured as a big piece of media in the local newspaper through the early years and was a major draw to those early designs. However, as what happens with many designs, the team wanted to adapt to a new era in the 1980s and tried (unsuccessfully) to get a logo that could match with the aesthetic that everyone else was moving too. It did not take long before the team was back to its big cats and Sammy the Sabercat would return in 1985 by smashing the old word logos on opening day to the cheers of many. The team’s logos would undergo another major change in 2018 which was almost a surprise for that season with how late and how quiet the announcement was to the public. Fans were caught in plenty of confusion when determining if the logo was actually real given it was announced through social media alone. The last logo announced this way was a concept Portland Pythons logo that was quickly shut down due to the backlash it received but San Jose seemed to avoid too much backlash and the new logo stuck.
Sarasota Sailfish (Years by: Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
Florida finally decided to jump into the league after the boom of the 1960s and debuted with a very classy logo that the team used in various parts around the uniforms. The full logo would only appear on some merch or the midfield of the team’s stadium for two decades as the team itself mainly stuck to using the fish part of the logo wherever they could. The split colors and parts of the logo made it versatile for Sarasota’s brand and kept many from questioning if the fish was just an artistic attempt at a swordfish or an actual one. Those arguments would arise when the team would transition away from their S logo and begin to use just fishes. Both of their fish logos were designed by the same artist and many online forums would go into the debate of marlin, sailfish, and swordfish for what the Sarasota logo was. The debate had become official in the book Sarasota’s Football Fishes: Who Are They? where the author asked a few head coaches and players about their opinions on the logo controversy. Many inside the team were also split on the animal and even in 2014 when the team updated their logo after the book’s publishing, the argument only got stronger.
Yellowknife Wraiths (Years by: Edmonton Elks)
Our final team and one of the other international squads in the league, the Wraiths have drawn from plenty of different backgrounds to create their logos. The introduction of football in the frozen tundra was symbolized by an icy blue football and a white W that would cover the helmets for the first decade that the team played. It was a simple, clean look that many up north never fussed about and was perfect for the era. Then the team would introduce the skull football logo that would become quite popular, but never to the same level that the team’s first logo would. Still, it would last for a long time and would get used as the Wraiths enjoyed using it whenever they had the chance. Then the team would ditch the simplicity of their icy blue football logos and instead introduce the old man Wraith logo in 1996. It was a very well liked logo that would hold strong for many years, becoming the new style that Yellowknife would adopt when moving forward to continue with detailed logos. Then in 2021 they would bring back the skull logo with a much more updated style that would instantly become a fan favorite and has been ever since.
Thank you so much to those that I have shared brief parts of this article with for your patience and thank you if you have read this far in. I had a lot of fun making this article even when I ran into artist’s block on most of these logos or time blocks that kept me from working. If you want to know about any decisions I made when designing any of these then please feel free to leave a comment and I will be glad to answer anything there!
THE FAKE ISFL LOGO HISTORY
Arizona Outlaws (Years by: Arizona Cardinals)
The Outlaws started the league as this rough and tough group of players out in the middle of the desert trying to make a name for themselves. According to the Phoenix newspaper, the team had a “target on them” when it came to trying to compete in the smaller National Simulation Football League back in the 1920s. The team logo was made to match the target idea as they brought focus on their classic jerseys. It wasn’t until the team returned from World War 2 that they would revisit the drawing board for a new logo as they moved on from feeling like a loner team and instead had the first look at the iconic Outlaw that still shows on their logo today. It was much more simple back then, most jerseys not even having a logo on them anyway. That would continue into the 1960s as the team tried to call on their Arizona roots to gather more fans for their games as more teams joined the league. As more fans came in, more kept calling for a removal of the Outlaw logo and the team went with the classic font that adorned their chests back in the 1950s. It was a very tough look as the team played with plain black helmets as well for two decades. Then in 1988, the team brought the Outlaw once again and it wouldn’t leave a second time.
Austin Copperheads (Years by: Texas Longhorns)
When the 1960s rolled around, Texas felt that it needed to join the league and Austin was decided as the best fit for the state to host a team. They wanted to avoid having a similar team to Austin with a cowboy style theme so they decided to pick their worst fear, snakes. The Copperheads began life with a simple logo that featured a snake rearing its head with a coiled C for the team name. The simple colors were easy to keep track of with merchandise as well and a lot of the team felt that the classic snake logo made for great shirts but bad for helmets. To fix this, the team switched early on to a more helmet friendly logo with a triangle to make the team’s C logo pop. This look would last for around a decade, still being used in conjunction with the old snake logo to keep everyone aware of the team’s mascot still. In the late 1970s, the snake returned to the Copperheads and they decided for a much more fierce logo instead. There were worries about how simple the logo was, but Austin continued to focus on the triangle snake logo for years. At the turn of the century is when they finally decided to step out of the simple and into the modern with a bright star logo and a full snake.
Baltimore Hawks (Years by: Baltimore Orioles)
The Baltimore Hawks were one team that originally joined with a simple logo to try advertising to all ages. A fun hawk logo was easy for everyone to get involved with the new team but it did not really represent the area of Baltimore. The team held a contest before deciding on the buff hawk look. While it was the team’s official logo for decades, the team rarely used in on jerseys or helmets and it instead was only seen on the team’s field and in any broadcasting. Controversially, the team used a winged B logo that appeared in the late 1980s on the team’s helmets as the official logo when the 1990s began, but team owners were swiftly shown the move was bad and had to come up with something to change away from the childlike hawks of the past and into the future. The much more aggressive hawk heads were adapted and even a color shift to focus more on gold would come toward the late 1990s. From their the full adaptation of the Maryland state flag would mix in with the Hawks’ logo with both the “Banana Hawk” and the current Hawk logos.
Berlin Fire Salamanders (Years by: Berlin Thunder)
The efficiency that is seen in a lot of German engineering was seen in the team’s league logo as the Fire Salamanders used only two logos throughout its history. Their first logo was more inspired by non-athletic brands and the team was more than happy to keep it as a fun logo when joining the league. After all, the team name was not the most fierce creature in the world and it made them unique. The original logo stuck with the team for twenty-one years even though it was rarely used outside of broadcasts or team merch. In 2021, the Berlin Fire Salamanders adopted their current logo with an even more unique look as they brought the actual fire with their new look.
Chicago Butchers (Years by: Chicago Bears)
One of the long lasting teams with the Arizona Outlaws, the team was much quicker to represent the team’s local history with their debut logo featuring a star straight from the city’s flag. The founder took five pages of the local newspaper to explain the exact reasoning for why the team needed to exist and why the name “Butchers” was chosen without a survey like other teams had taken. The next year the team would move into the Butcher look much more since everyone in Chicago was more than happy to just have a team regardless if it fit the area of not. The “Boar-cher” logo was everywhere in the city and its cap was usually a hot ticket item for the first hundred fans to enter the stadium every opening home game. The logo would eventually change to focus on the actual butchers themselves around the end of World War 2 to appreciate each of those workers taking time to provide for those of the city of Chicago. An official announcement from the founder again would come out as the team adopted the famous Y symbol that was already around the city. People would try to come up with new logos over and over but that Y symbol logo would remain until a new designer would introduce the chopping fist logo in 1974 which the team has held since even despite attempts recently for change.
Colorado Yeti (Years by: Denver Broncos)
Beginning life as the Denver Grizzlies, the orange jerseys were a sight to behold for three decades as the team varied through many different bear logos that have been forgotten to time with recent managers and public relations to avoid the old “unoriginal” history. The first official logo was made in 1962 after the team used various, unregistered bear paw logos for their first two years. The angry Grizz was an iconic look during the 1960s in Denver and would be expanded on in the 1970s and 1980s. Denver constantly was covered in orange and lots of growling pride as the team worked hard to keep the fans happy. Unfortunately, in 1990, the team would lose millions in bad signings and the team’s founder would leave the team entirely in the wake of the financial loss. The first few years the team did not officially remove their logo but there was rumors that the team might move out of the state. It was almost a done deal until a new owner took over and did a complete rebrand of the team in hopes that they could remove the bad taste of the Grizzlies from Denver. A new stadium was built outside of downtown, new big names were signed, and the decided to adopt the red and black Yeti logo now to cement all of the changes. Did things work? Well the team may not have seen much success after the new owner came in but the team managed to rewrite their history as the Yeti and have not looked back since their final logo change in 1997.
Honolulu Hahalua (Years by: Hawaii Rainbow Warriors)
Much like the Berlin Fire Salamanders’ efficiency when it comes to keeping a brand, the Hahalua were focused on creating the perfect Hawaiian vibe with their logo all the way back in 1982 when they made their initial splash onto the league. Everyone was surprised that a team in Hawaii could work, but they brought plenty of fans and attention into the league with a lot of amazing gamedays in the tropics. Their first logo was praised by many and allowed the team to have a unique winged formation on their helmets. In the late 1990s, the team wanted to do an update on the logo to keep things fresh and went with the unique look that they use today. The winged helmets may be gone, but the Hawaiian experience still remains deep in their brand.
New Orleans Second Line (Years by: New Orleans Saints)
Another team that tries to avoid its past, but has recently made attempts to honor the old logos, the Second Line have not always made big attempts to change their logos outside of color changes. They wanted to try to avoid making any drastic changes even back when the team was in Las Vegas and tried to either decide on a dark gold or bright gold when deciding their official logo. The team would lighten their gold in 2002 officially yet there were still plenty of broadcasts or merch that featured the old gold look the team briefly had. When moving to New Orleans, the same issue persisted where they attempted to use darker colors at first but would decide that lighter colors would fit better with the Mardi Gras scene in their new home.
New York Silverbacks (Years by: New York Giants)
The Big Apple received its first team as troops returned from World War 2 and was dubbed the New York Silvers to represent the many skyscrapers that the city had and that the team would be playing around. Newspapers would print out variations of the combined NY logo with and without the team’s badge through their first decade or so which made it difficult to keep track of which one was official. Most decide the clean NY was the first team’s logo due to its first appearance being a few years before the badge one while the badge did not pick up prominence until 1950. Then the team would ditch the combined letters in favor of a New York skyline with the team’s name “Silvers” across the front. It gave the team a much more city-centric look and jerseys would often have hand-stitched outlines of the city skyline along the chest. This made it difficult to carry away game uniforms so the team had to come up with a fix. A contest was held among fans in the 1960 season to come up with a new team name and the transition from the towering buildings of New York would soon go to the beast that had conquered them, King Kong a silverback gorilla. The city skyline was ditched for another team badge featuring a peaceful gorilla that was designed by another contest in the offseason which grew on people quickly. Then, as the more hard-hitting 80s were coming around, a change was made to make the logo much fiercer and intimidating. The logo would become a favorite of many before the Art Deco look would add with the intimidating logo in 2000 where the team felt comfortable keeping the logo from there.
Orange County Otters (Years by: UC Irvine Anteaters)
Originally seen as an odd choice for a team name, Orange County went the route of the Hahalua with a much more relaxed mascot as they focused on representing the more casual aesthetic of southern California. The team’s logos all have represented that well and the team has not gone too far into any direction with their minimal changes. The team did attempt for a more “football-ish” logo in 1998 but the team owners still reasoned that it was enough to go back to more of an otter look. They were not as bothered with wanting to create an intimidating brand like other teams so they instead transitioned back in 2009 to a regular otter head that brought back similar styles as their original logo. In 2014, they worked on blending both styles and were met with a mixed bag of criticism and praise. Plenty of supporters of the old logo did not see a reason to change from such a recognizable brand while others were happy to see an intimidating otter be the face of Orange County again.
Philadelphia Liberty (Years by: Philadelphia Eagles)
Much like the New York Silverbacks, the Philadelphia Liberty was created as troops returned to the States and were looking for new jobs. The Liberty also took full pride in those men’s fighting spirit and wanted to get the city of Philly a proper team to support. “Liberty” was printed across every player’s jersey which became a huge hit with fans all across the state of Pennsylvania. The team originally wanted to focus on the American symbolism with the star logo. Then, the team transitioned to the city itself once the war had officially ended and brought on the Liberty Bell in full force. Their red bell was wheeled out to every game they played and would ring after every touchdown the team scored. Some said the original bell developed a similar crack to its namesake and had to be replaced in 1955, but no records back up this story. The team would eventually change their logo to match the helmets the team wore as wearing them became much more popular and required in the league. From there, the red bell had been replaced with a golden bell that would get updated to match the different eras. The golden bell we see today was designed off of a contest and was a winner by a narrow margin over some other close competitors.
San Jose Sabercats (Years by: San Jose State Spartans)
One team that has seen its fair share of logo changes, but the same manager throughout, has been another team located out west in San Jose. The team debuted with two different big cat logos that received plenty of love from the team’s early fans. San Jose’s mascot was featured as a big piece of media in the local newspaper through the early years and was a major draw to those early designs. However, as what happens with many designs, the team wanted to adapt to a new era in the 1980s and tried (unsuccessfully) to get a logo that could match with the aesthetic that everyone else was moving too. It did not take long before the team was back to its big cats and Sammy the Sabercat would return in 1985 by smashing the old word logos on opening day to the cheers of many. The team’s logos would undergo another major change in 2018 which was almost a surprise for that season with how late and how quiet the announcement was to the public. Fans were caught in plenty of confusion when determining if the logo was actually real given it was announced through social media alone. The last logo announced this way was a concept Portland Pythons logo that was quickly shut down due to the backlash it received but San Jose seemed to avoid too much backlash and the new logo stuck.
Sarasota Sailfish (Years by: Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
Florida finally decided to jump into the league after the boom of the 1960s and debuted with a very classy logo that the team used in various parts around the uniforms. The full logo would only appear on some merch or the midfield of the team’s stadium for two decades as the team itself mainly stuck to using the fish part of the logo wherever they could. The split colors and parts of the logo made it versatile for Sarasota’s brand and kept many from questioning if the fish was just an artistic attempt at a swordfish or an actual one. Those arguments would arise when the team would transition away from their S logo and begin to use just fishes. Both of their fish logos were designed by the same artist and many online forums would go into the debate of marlin, sailfish, and swordfish for what the Sarasota logo was. The debate had become official in the book Sarasota’s Football Fishes: Who Are They? where the author asked a few head coaches and players about their opinions on the logo controversy. Many inside the team were also split on the animal and even in 2014 when the team updated their logo after the book’s publishing, the argument only got stronger.
Yellowknife Wraiths (Years by: Edmonton Elks)
Our final team and one of the other international squads in the league, the Wraiths have drawn from plenty of different backgrounds to create their logos. The introduction of football in the frozen tundra was symbolized by an icy blue football and a white W that would cover the helmets for the first decade that the team played. It was a simple, clean look that many up north never fussed about and was perfect for the era. Then the team would introduce the skull football logo that would become quite popular, but never to the same level that the team’s first logo would. Still, it would last for a long time and would get used as the Wraiths enjoyed using it whenever they had the chance. Then the team would ditch the simplicity of their icy blue football logos and instead introduce the old man Wraith logo in 1996. It was a very well liked logo that would hold strong for many years, becoming the new style that Yellowknife would adopt when moving forward to continue with detailed logos. Then in 2021 they would bring back the skull logo with a much more updated style that would instantly become a fan favorite and has been ever since.
Thank you so much to those that I have shared brief parts of this article with for your patience and thank you if you have read this far in. I had a lot of fun making this article even when I ran into artist’s block on most of these logos or time blocks that kept me from working. If you want to know about any decisions I made when designing any of these then please feel free to leave a comment and I will be glad to answer anything there!