As evidenced by what the National Football League did to celebrate the 50th Super Bowl during the 2015-16 season and what the league did during its 75th anniversary season back in 1994-95, the NFL has proven that they will spend an entire year celebrating a milestone season with as much pomp and circumstance that you would expect from the league.
The 2019-20 season will be no different in that regard, as the league has officially announced that as soon as Super Bowl LIII arrives then the celebration for the league's 100th season will officially get underway. The NFL got the anticipation underway by unveiling the logo for the big occasion.
You may as well get used to seeing this logo all over the place next season, because it is going to be everywhere. It will be utilized as a patch on every uniform, the logo will be on every game ball and you'll probably see it painted on the fields and placed all over television broadcasts. The NFL will make sure that nobody forgets that this upcoming season will be the 100th season in league history.
#NFL100 pic.twitter.com/eALx6grpov
— NFL345 (@NFL345) October 19, 2018
As far as the logo itself, it's a huge departure from what we've seen in the past. During his coverage of this story, Chris Creamer of sportslogos.net placed the league's commemorative season logos next to each other as a bit of a comparison and what stands out is how the classic shield logo is not prominent in this logo's design. Instead, the number 100 is front-and-center and is the main focus of the logo. Again, this is the 100th season in NFL history and the league is going to drill that into your memory by the time they are finished.
Speaking of the uniforms, it's probably a safe bet to assume that we could see plenty of throwbacks on the field next season. While there are already a handful of teams who regularly have throwbacks in their uniform rotation, we could see the rest of the league get in on the fun as well. The 1994 NFL season was the golden standard when it comes to the usage of throwback uniforms in any sport. This does come with the caveat that some of the uniforms weren't exactly historically accurate and were merely close approximations of what the team actually wore as uniforms back then.
Still, it had to have been a a treat for NFL fans in 1994 to tune in to a game at any given point during the season and see something like the Bears and Jets facing each other while wearing throwbacks from two completely different eras of football that were deep in the past. The Bears tried their best to replicate their look from the 1920s, while the Jets looked like the 1960s from the neck down. The less we talk about their feeble attempt at a throwback helmet, the better.
While there is no guarantee that the NFL will do the same thing next season, it wouldn't be a huge shock to see a lot of teams dip into their uniform catalog for something special to bring back to the forefront as the NFL celebrates its 100th season. Throwback uniforms are even more popular now than when every team participated in the program back in 1994, so you would have to imagine that this idea would be welcomed with open arms by NFL fans.
Meanwhile, it's clear that the NFL may have some big things up their sleeve for their 100th season if they're already unveiling the logo for the season this far ahead of schedule. The logo itself may not be anything special but the season ahead could be intriguing.
