Dallas Vigilantes

The Vigilantes did not carry on the name of Dallas' previous AFL team, the Dallas Desperados, because of a unique ownership situation with the former team.[3] Although the new AFL owns the former AFL team assets (hence the Arizona Rattlers, Chicago Rush, Cleveland Gladiators, Orlando Predators, Tampa Bay Storm, and Utah Blaze names going over to the new AF1),[4] former Desperados owner Jerry Jones (who also owns the NFL's Dallas Cowboys) retained the team's branding rights after it folded.[2] Jones had based most of the Desperados branding on that of the Cowboys, including the colors, prominent use of a star in the logo, and a Cowboys "Double Star" logo on the front of the Desperados' jerseys, thus making the Cowboys and Desperados branding very difficult to separate. Not willing to risk such complicated legal action, and apparently unwilling to revive the Fort Worth Cavalry (another former AFL team that played in the region that coincidentally was owned by Kern), the Vigilantes chose a new name. The Vigilantes' original logo incorporated a skull and crossbones, the flag of Texas, a cowboy hat, and revolvers. The logo was stripped down for 2011, consisting of the skull and the cowboy hat from the original logo.

The Vigilantes were left off the schedule for the 2012 season without any announcement of either the team's suspension or cessation of operations, but have never been involved in any aspect of the Arena Football League subsequently and are considered to be defunct.