USFL Unveils Uniforms For All Eight Revived Teams For 2022 Return Season

For the first time since 1985, the United States Football League is back in action. With America’s Spring Football landscape constantly shifting, the revival of the USFL makes this the third-different Spring Football league to start play since 2019. The AAF and the XFL each only made it one season (though the XFL is looking to return in 2023), so the obvious goal of the revived USFL is to at least make it into the 2023 season.

Before we can get to 2023, they have to focus on 2022 and yesterday saw a rather grand launch of uniforms for all eight teams. While all regular season games in 2022 will take place in Birmingham, Alabama, all of the teams involved are revived identities from different cities across the United States. The Birmingham Stallions, Houston Gamblers, Michigan Panthers, New Jersey Generals, New Orleans Breakers, Philadelphia Stars, Pittsburgh Maulers and Tampa Bay Bandits are all making their return for this upcoming season. Fans who remember the Denver Gold, Oakland Invaders and the Los Angeles Express are out of luck but maybe they’ll return if the USFL stays around for a while.

Either way, the teams that have returned have all received a refresh of their logos and uniforms and for the most part, they’re all in line with a natural design progression that could be imagined for these teams. The best example of the entire bunch is the Michigan Panthers, who will be taking to the field with a very clean and tidy update to their eye-catching uniforms from back in the mid-1980s. Even the large panther logo on the helmet has made a return and the updated panther helmet looks very nice, indeed.

Another team that carried over their unique helmet design from the ‘80s to 2022 is the New Orleans Breakers. Their memorable wave helmets from the initial era of the USFL have returned and this time, the waves have extended onto the sleeves as well. The striping pattern on the pants have been carried over from the old look, so it’s a look that has received some updates to go along with an old design that was arguably ahead of its time when it first saw the gridiron.

While most of the newly-revived USFL teams focused on slightly tweaking and cleaning up their visual identity, a couple of teams took the opportunity to take a little bit of a departure. The 1984 Pittsburgh Maulers and the 2022 Pittsburgh Maulers only share a color scheme and a refreshed helmet logo. Other than that, the bold shoulder yoke and thick stripes on both the helmets and the pants on Pittsburgh’s new uniform are a far cry from the simple Northwestern-style striping patterns that the team wore during their lone USFL season in 1984.

The Philadelphia Stars also decided that their look from the ‘80s needed a decent amount of work done to it. The striping pattern that is present on the primary logo itself is also present on the helmet, the sides of the jersey, and the pants as well. In terms of striping, this is quite easily the most progressive-looking uniform of the bunch.

Meanwhile, the hometown Birmingham Stallions decided that their uniform design from the old USFL days were just fine. The only thing that needed a major change was the helmet, which now has a stallion head on it instead of the entire stallion’s body in full gallop.

Another team that went with a simple-and-clean update of what they already had was the New Jersey Generals. They had one of the most basic-looking uniforms back in the day and things have not changed now that the league is returning to action. Personally, I’d say that this logo and helmet combination is probably the best update of the bunch.

Another team that figured that their old logo in particular was a perfectly fine one is the Houston Generals. The Texas-G logo was incredibly well done back then, so it was a very wise choice to simply clean it up and port it over to the new look. The uniforms are a bit of a departure from what they had during the old days but it’s clear that the logo is the star of the show, here.

The Tampa Bay Bandits were in a position where their old uniforms were actually a little similar to what the Ohio State Buckeyes currently wear. The revived Bandits will not be confused with the Buckeyes any time soon, though. The side jersey stripes, drop-shadow numbers, and updated Bandit logo will make sure that any resemblances are contrived, at best.

That sums up each look for the eight revived USFL teams. Some teams have conservative looks that harken back to the old days, while others decided to take a little bit of a chance with their new breath of life. Either way, it’s a solid set of uniforms all around. There’s nothing really jarring or rough to look at here, and the uniform matchups should be decent on a weekly basis. The verdict is still out on the actual football product but the uniform product has something good going at the moment.