Now Up for Bids: Paul’s Rare NFL Uniform Style Guides

Hello! I’m back with another batch of rare uniform style guides that I’m selling. After two weeks of selling MLB guides, we’re moving from the baseball diamond to the gridiron this week, as I’m offering a bunch of NFL guides, plus one XFL guide. I’m selling these via silent auction, with a minimum bid for each item. (I’ll explain the bidding process at the end of the post.)

Here are the details and particulars on the six items that are up for bids this week:

1. 1999 (and 2000!) NFL Style Guide

1999 was the first year of Uni Watch. I contacted the NFL to ask if they had any uni-related materials they could share with me, and they responded by sending me this style guide, housed in a big three-ring binder with a foil-stamped NFL logo on the front cover. Here’s a look at the spine and back cover:

It contains a tabbed foldout page for each of the NFL’s then-current 31 teams. (The Texans didn’t yet exist.) Each team’s foldout sheet has a color side, which shows the team’s logos, uniforms, and color specs, and a black-and-white side, which has mechanical art intended to be used as camera copy. Let’s take an annotated look at both sides of the sheet for a typical team (the orange-dot numbers correspond to the numbered list that follows the photos):

1. The left side of the color sheet features the team’s primary and secondary logos (which in the Packers’ case are almost identical) and wordmark (or, in the guide’s lingo, “logotype”), all shown on both light and dark backgrounds.
2. The jersey mock-ups’ sleeves seem comically long by contemporary standards. Even in 1999, nobody in the NFL was wearing their sleeves this long.
3. Obviously, nobody in the NFL wears this type of helmet or facemask anymore. But the NFL Style Guide was still using this same helmet mock-up template as recently as 2020 (and may still be doing so, for all I know — I no longer have access to it). For that matter, the Browns still use this helmet template as their primary logo! It’s a style that has become the visual shorthand for a football helmet, even though that particular helmet design is obsolete in real life.
4. For each team, only one colored and one white jersey are shown, with accompanying pants and socks — no alternate jerseys (which didn’t yet exist in the NFL) or throwbacks (which had been used for the league’s 75th-anniversary season in 1994 but were not yet something that teams dabbled with individually). Also, no rear-jersey designs.
5. The uni number used on the jersey mock-ups indicates the most recent year that the team’s style sheet was updated. So for this Packers sheet, everything is current and up-to-date as of 1997. (The entire guide is current as of 1999, but Green Bay didn’t make any changes in 1998 or ’99.)
6. In the late ’90s, most NFL players still wore their socks pretty much as shown in the guide.
7. The fine-print text on the left side of the black-and-white sheet is the same for every team.
8. Right next to the base of the fold, printed sideways, is a date — in this case, “1.97.” Like the number on the jersey mock-up, this indicates the effective date of the sheet, so updated sheets could be swapped in as teams revised their uniforms and specs.
9. Each team’s jersey number font is displayed in numerical order but — for reasons I’ve never understood — “2” is always shown as the first numeral, with “1” bringing up the rear. Weird!

Teams with lots of logo variations were given additional sheets. Here, for example, are the sheets for the Jaguars, followed by the Broncos (note the belt buckle detail in the uni mock-ups!):

 

Three teams — the Giants, Pats, and Rams — got new uniforms for the 2000 season, so the NFL sent me new style sheets for those teams. I kept the old sheets instead of swapping them out. Here are the color pages for those three teams — 1999 pages first, followed by the updated 2000 pages:

Errors and Oddities

If you look at that last Rams page, you can see that the guide showed them wearing a rounded number font in 2000. That is inaccurate — they actually used block numerals in 2000 before switching to the rounded font in 2001:

If you look again at the Rams’ 2000 sheet, you’ll see that the white and navy pants (but not the gold) had little horn-esque stripes! If that looks unfamiliar, it’s because the navy pants were never used and the white pants appeared only once, in a 2001 preseason game.

Speaking of pants, the Saints routinely wore black pants with their white jerseys throughout the 1999 season, but maybe those black pants were a late addition to the team’s wardrobe, because the guide does not show them:

Bonuses

Since I kept both the old and new pages for the Giants, Pats, and Rams, this style guide is really a 1999 guide and a 2000 guide!

Also: When the Giants unveiled their new uniforms in 2000, I tore out the relevant articles from The New York Times and New York Newsday and tucked them into the Giants section of the guide, so the winning bidder will get those.

Also-also: In 2004, I somehow acquired a bunch of oversized printouts showing new Bengals apparel. (I no longer recall if these were sent to me by the team, by the league, or by Reebok.) I didn’t know what to do with them, so I just stuck them into the Bengals section of the style guide. The winning bidder will get these as well.

Imperfections

Overall, this style guide is in excellent shape, but there are a few minor flaws, as follows:

• The binder cover has some minor scuffing and wear marks.
• The top-right corner of the binder cover is slightly frayed:

• As you may have noticed in the earlier photos, some of the pages have minor yellowing around the edges.

That’s it!

Minimum bid: $600

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2. 1985 NFL Style Guide (with 49ers “One-Day Logo” Update!)

I bought this guide on eBay about 15 years ago. The previous owner was an NFL licensee, although I don’t know what kinds of products they made.

Like several of the other guides I’ve shown you, this one was designed to be updated. If a few teams had new uniforms for a given season, the league would send out updated pages for those teams, and licensees would then swap out the old pages and replace them with the new ones. That way, the league wouldn’t have to print an entire new style guide each season.

This guide is complete for the 1985 season. It also includes most of the updates for 1986 and ’87, along with several updates from the early 1990s (most notably the updated pages for the 49ers’ infamous 1991 “one-day logo,” which I’ll get to in a minute). So it’s essentially the 1985 NFL Style Guide with a lot of bonus material.

This guide is housed in a 24-ring binder with a red, white, and blue cover design, including a ghosted image pattern on the red and blue stripes. Here’s a look at the spine and the back cover:

For each of the league’s then-current 28 teams (no Jags, Panthers, Ravens, or Texans), there’s a color foldout sheet showing the team’s uniforms, followed by a black-and-white foldout sheet featuring camera copy for logos. For example, here are the pages for the Eagles, Oilers, and Vikings:

Oddities and Bonuses

The big prize here is that there are updated style sheets for the 49ers’ infamous “one-day logo” (which was actually a six-day logo) from 1991:

The updated sheets came with an accompanying memo that alerted licensees to the team’s new logo:

A subsequent memo, essentially saying, “Never mind,” presumably followed a week or two later. Unfortunately, that one hasn’t been preserved.

There are updated style sheets for several other teams. Here, for example, are the pages for the Pats and Chargers — original 1985 sheets first, followed by the updated sheets:

There are also updated pages for the Cardinals’ 1994 uni tweaks. These pages have only three hole-punches, not 24, so they can’t be anchored in the 24-ring binder, but I’ve slipped them into their appropriate spot:

There are also two other memos — one about the Pats changing their facemask color and the other about the Cardinals changing their team name from “Phoenix” to “Arizona” (note the unusual diagonally oriented NFL logo on the letterhead — never seen that anywhere else):

Imperfections

Overall, this guide is in very good shape, but there are some small flaws, as follows:

• For four teams — the Bears, Cowboys, Packers, and 49ers — some of the perforated color-swatch chips have been removed:

• For two teams — the Bills and Washington — the black-and-white foldout logo page appears to be a photocopy that was supplied after the fact, without any hole-punches. I’ve tucked these pages into their proper spots in the page sequence, but they’re not anchored in the binder like all the other pages:

• A few pages have minor creasing.
• Some pages have minor yellowing along the edges.
• The front cover has some  minor scuffing and a scratch:

• The back cover also has minor scuffing. In addition, some ink or toner, apparently from a memo, offset onto the white portion of the back cover (it could probably be removed with a Magic Eraser pad, but I’ll let the winning bidder decide if they want to try that):

• Ink or toner from another memo has offset onto the inside front cover:

All in all, a sensational document of a formative time in NFL history, and the 49ers “one-day” updates really make this a prize.

Minimum bid: $700

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3. 1994 NFL 75th-Anniversary Throwback Uniform Style Sheets

I got these several years ago from a reader who worked for a Fox-affiliated TV station in the 1990s.  He told me, “Back in 1994, when Fox first began broadcasting NFL games, I heard about the plans for the throwback uniforms to mark the league’s 75th anniversary and wanted to know what the teams had in the works. So I called up NFL Properties and someone there named Raquel said she was ‘send me something.'”

That something turned out to this set of 28 style sheets — one for each then-current NFL team (no Jags, Panthers, Ravens, or Texans). There’s no folder, binder, or cover sheet — just the 28 sheets, which appear to be color Xeroxes.

There are some interesting revelations here. For example, the 49ers page shows that they originally intended to go with a blank gold helmet (in real life, they went with their familiar “SF” helmet logo):

Also, that Niners sheet shows only a red throwback jersey but omits the white throwback they also wore in ’94.

Another discrepancy: The Bills famously half-assed their throwback helmet by putting a white standing buffalo on their existing red helmet shell (instead of springing for period-appropriate white throwback shells). But their style sheet shows that it could have been worse — they were originally slated to just wear their non-throwback helmet logo:

Similarly, the Jets half-assed their throwback helmets by putting a green retro logo on their existing green shells (instead of splurging for period-appropriate white shells), but their style sheet indicates that they were originally slated to go with a white throwback logo:

Also, the crest on the Steelers’ throwback jersey is a bit different on their style sheet than it turned out to be in real life:

You can see all 28 sheets here:

Imperfections

None.

I’ve never seen these mock-ups anywhere else. Too bad they don’t come in a binder or folder of some sort, but at least they’re in near-perfect condition.

Minimum bid: $100

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4. Denver Broncos 1997 Brand Guide

In 1997, the Broncos and Nike famously introduced the most radical uniform redesign in NFL history. Nike produced this brand guide to accompany the team’s new identity. It is probably the rarest item in my collection; I acquired this copy from a designer who worked on the Broncos project.

The guide is large, like a coffee table book — 11-5/8 inches by 17-3/8 inches — and has 90 pages (45 sheets, each of which is printed on one side, blank on the other). It comes in a hardcover binding with a pebbled faux-leather cover, like a football. Here’s a look at the spine and back cover:

One of the more interesting things about this guide is that it uses a unique uniform mock-up template that I’ve never seen anyplace else:

The brand guide also includes some details that aren’t found in the regular NFL Style Guide. For example, the Denver guide spells out spacing measurements for various design elements on the jerseys and helmets:

There’s also info on logos, colors, typography, and more. Here’s a slideshow of the entire guide (you can also see pics of the individual pages here):

Imperfections

There’s some minor scuffling on the hardcover binding. Aside from that, this item is absolutely like new! And as I said earlier, this is probably the rarest item in my collection — a serious collector’s item for the serious Broncos fan.

Minimum bid: $1,000

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5. New York Jets 2002 Brand Guide

In 2002, the Jets hired the high-profile New York design firm Pentagram to create a brand refresh for them. This wasn’t a full-scale redesign — it was just an update and coordination of the team’s visual program. It also marked the debut of the team’s “Gameface” logo, which was created by Pentagram designer Micheal Beirut. This guide, produced by the Jets and Pentagram, was intended to aid in promotional and marketing efforts.

The guide measures 8 inches square with a wire binding and, oddly, an artificial turf front cover. The back cover is plain black:

There are 20 pages, all of which you can see in this slideshow:

I developed an email relationship over the years with Michael Beirut, the Pentagram designer who oversaw this project. I got to see him do a presentation at a School of Visual Arts live event in 2008, so I brought along the Jets guide and had him sign the last page for me:

Imperfections

• There’s some minor yellowing on the page edges.
• The back cover has some scuff marks, and there’s also some minor edge wear on some of the pages.
• There are some teeny-tiny indentations, which look suspiciously like cat bite marks, at the top-left corner of the back cover:

Aside from those details, this item is in excellent shape! An extremely rare collector’s item for the avid Jets fan.

Minimum bid: $175

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6. 2001 XFL Style Guide CD-ROM

When the first version of the XFL was preparing to launch in 2001 (which turned out to be its only season), I contacted the league and asked for their style guide. They said there was no printed version, but they provided me with this CD-ROM, which is still in its original Tyvek sleeve.

I no longer have an optical drive, so I can’t vouch for whether the CD-ROM still works. But I downloaded the art files to my computer several years ago for another project, so the winning bidder will get those files along with the CD-ROM.

Each of the eight teams is represented by two files — one with the team’s uniforms and the other with its logos. Here, for example, are the files for the Maniax and the Extreme:

Imperfections

As I mentioned, I don’t know if the CD-ROM actually works, although it’s still a unique collector’s item. (Whether or not the disc works, the winning bidder will still get all of the files from the disc.) Also, the original disc sleeve is pretty worn, although you can easily swap that out for a new one, or a jewel case, or whatever.

Minimum bid: $100

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So those are this week’s items. Here’s how this will work:

• If you want to bid on one or more of these items, email your bid(s) to me by 5pm Eastern this Friday, May 9. Be sure your bid at least matches the minimum amount set for that item.
• You’re free to bid on multiple items, but you can’t place a combined bid on multiple items. In other words, if you want to bid on all three of this week’s guides, you must submit three separate bids. (It’s fine to list multiple bids in a single email, however.)
• If you submit a bid and then decide before the deadline that you want to increase it, that’s fine. Just email me with the revised bid amount.
• High bid wins (duh). In the event of a tie, I will offer the tied bidders the chance to increase their bids. If they both decline that option, I’ll flip a coin to determine the winner.
• I will contact the winning bidders to arrange payment and shipping. If a winning bidder does not follow through with payment, I will contact the next-highest bidder.
• I will provide free domestic shipping. If a winning bidder is not from the U.S., then they’ll have to cover the shipping costs.
• I’ve been careful over the years not to mark or deface these guides in any way. But if a winning bidder wants me to sign a guide on the cover or title page, I’m happy to do that.
• If you want any additional photos or information about an item before bidding on it, or if you have any other questions about all of this, feel free to contact me and I’ll respond as quickly as I’m able.
• Items that do not receive any bids will be put up for auction on eBay at a later date.

Looking ahead: Next week I’ll put some NHL style guides up for bids.

Meanwhile, big thanks to everyone who bid on last week’s guides. Although there were three guides available, all the bids that came in were for the 1999 TATC guide, which was won by Steven Lomberto for $475 — big congrats to him! Since the 1984 and 1992 guides didn’t receive any bids, I’ll put them aside for now and list them on eBay later on.

That’s it. Thanks for your consideration, and happy bidding!