A big point of discussion last week was about the UFL’s new uniforms for all eight teams. The league moved from Under Armour as uniform provider to New Era, hence the change for even the existing franchises. Everyone, of course, has an opinion on the new threads (and I certainly made mine known on X/Twitter as each was revealed). I don’t put much stock in those views, quite frankly, because fans tend to hate change – one of the great traditions in sports is for fans to vociferously reject new logos or jerseys for teams before they eventually just become quietly accepted.
There is one person’s opinion on such matters, however, that I take as gospel: My wife’s. Back in 2023 when the XFL returned (again), and when she was just my fiancée, I had her judge the new uniforms for a column that is now lost to time. I recruited her once again to take a look at the UFL’s 2026 offerings to give me some straight truth about how they looked. After all, I knew how I thought about them; but I wanted a real fashion expert to weigh in. Whenever I have questions about outfits, what colors match or clash, I turn to her. She is the most fashionable person I know, so her opinion carries more weight than the plebeians online (sorry plebes, we love you).
I showed her the video for each team’s reveal as well as the pictures of the uniforms posted along with the press release on the UFL website.
Without further ado, here are the only factual rankings of the new jerseys and color schemes for the eight UFL teams in 2026.
#1 Orlando Storm
My wife was impressed right away with the appearance of purple as one of the main colors of the Storm. “Very fitting for Orlando because I think of their soccer team and they’re purple,” she said. She also liked the presentation of the numbers on the jersey. “There’s a little bit of sass and electricity” with them, she said. “I like that a lot” she said of the overall look. It was pretty clearly the number one for her when it came time to rank them.
#2 Houston Gamblers
After initially being put off by the team’s nickname (“why would they choose Gamblers?”) and me having to explain the lore of it being a long ago USFL franchise, she came around on the actual look of the squad. She called the inclusion of the poker chip on the shoulder “clever”, and she noticed the two spades within the “H” on the logo. She referred to the black uniform as “sleek” and said the uniforms look “powerful” and “assertive.” She also liked the matte helmet and the details on the side of the pants.
#3 Columbus Aviators
“It looks very Captain America to me,” she said of the uniforms, also noting there was a lot going on with the helmet. It was an eye-catching livery for her. The Aviators seem to be a popular pick for best uniform, or at least one of the most popular, and my wife definitely agrees. She also liked the logo, specifically the wings on the letter “A” for “Aviators.” “They did a good job incorporating the name into the logo.”
#4 Dallas Renegades
The top-ranked returning team from when my wife last graded the uniforms, the Renegades are also more different than D.C. and St. Louis since then, having changed the helmet color and added the bandit logo on it after having the white letter “R” for two seasons. The bandit reminded her of the prowler on the neighborhood watch signs one might find about town. “Yeah, it’s a good one,” she said about the Renegades 2026 look.
#5 Birmingham Stallions
“I like that bold color,” she said about the Birmingham palette. Despite the angst from the Birmingham fanbase on this one, my wife didn’t find it as abhorrent as others, though I did show her the old Stallions uniforms and she liked those better, speaking to the red socks and the contrast. At first, when watching the video, she felt the Stallion on the helmet didn’t look like a stallion (“it looks like a puma”), but later she got a better view and retracted that statement. She liked the yellow jerseys better than the white. The reason for it landing at number five? “I don’t see anything special about it,” she said.
#6 St. Louis Battlehawks
My wife did not like the design of the wings on the helmet, saying they instead looked like claw marks. She did say the video and reveal reminded her of fighter jets, which is close to what a Battlehawk actually is. I showed her some of the previous Battlehawk helmet designs and she much preferred the 2020 wing design.
#7 D.C. Defenders
“I think of D.C. when I see that, maybe because it’s the red of the Washington Commanders…aren’t they red too?” she asked. Maroon, but close enough. After initially liking the uniforms, she poked some holes after looking more closely. In comparison to others that had more color combinations, the simple red and white of the Defenders fell flat for her. “This seems a little bit more boring,” she said. I told her of the change from the camo to plain helmets. “Why would they get rid of that?” she asked. She’s on the same page as most of us there.
#8 Louisville Kings
Right away, she didn’t like the design on the shoulders. “I don’t like that combination of different greens,” she remarked. “And green is my favorite color. But that green is not doing it for me.” She did note, unprompted, that it reminded her of a jockey, so she made the connection the team nickname is intended to make. “That’s effective, then,” she said. “Unimpressed”, though, is how she came away from the overall presentation. Just as Orlando was very easily number one, Louisville was the clear last place finisher.
