With nicknames that certainly make sense for their regions, the Alliance of American Football unveiled the names and logos of their West Division teams on Tuesday -- including a team in San Diego.
They are the Arizona Hotshots, Salt Lake Stallions, San Antonio Commanders and San Diego Fleet.
Last week, the spring league that begins play the weekend after the Super Bowl revealed the Orlando Apollos, Atlanta Legends, Memphis Express and Birmingham Iron.
The Fleet will have San Diego County Credit Union Stadium, the former field of the NFL's Chargers, as their home and will be coached by Mike Martz. The Hotshots will play at Sun Devil Stadium on the Arizona State campus and be coached by Rick Neuheisel. The Stallions' home will be Rice-Eccles Stadium on the University of Utah campus and Dennis Erickson will be the coach. San Antonio plays in the Alamodome with Mike Riley as coach.
"Today we release the names and logos of our Alliance West teams with enthusiasm and pride as we give our final four teams their identity within our league," said Charlie Ebersol, a co-founder of the Alliance along with Pro Football Hall of Famer Bill Polian. "I can't wait to start seeing fans wearing their team colors and joining our Alliance."
The league will play a 10-game schedule, with playoffs ending in late April.
Fleet pays homage to San Diego's naval community and players will wear yellow, representative of the city's sunny weather, and the gray of Navy ships.
Arizona's nickname pays tribute to the firefighters organized by the U.S. Forest Service and other federal, state and county agencies that battle wildland fires across the country. Their colors will be forest green, orange and golden yellow, with crossed axes in the logo standing for pulaskis, a cutting and digging tool used by firefighters.
Salt Lake's name of Stallions is inspired by the Bonneville Salt Flats where world land speed records have been set and broken for decades. The Stallions' colors are sky blue, royal blue and silver.
For San Antonio, which has had more than three centuries of military presence with one of the nation's largest active and retired military populations, the nickname honors those who serve. Team colors feature maroon, which is used in the official city logo; silver, in reference to dress military swords carried by officers; and the familiar red of the Texas state flag. The logo includes a depiction of the Alamo.
