Which franchise is older the Dallas Cowboys or the Pittsburgh Steelers?

Answer 1

Steelers are the older franchise.

On January 28th, 1960, Dallas was granted an NFL franchise. The team was first known as the Dallas Steers, then the Dallas Rangers before settling on the name "Cowboys" for the 1960 season. They notched their first preseason win with a 14-3 victory over the New York Giants on August 27th, 1960. Their first regular season game as an NFL franchise was played at the Cotton Bowl on September 24, 1960, against the Pittsburgh Steelers, which they lost 35-28. The Cowboys recorded their first non-losing game with a 31-31 tie with the New York Giants on December 4th, 1960. They ended their inaugural season with an 0-11-1 record.

However, the Pittsburgh Steelers were founded on July 8, 1933. They are the seventh-oldest franchise in the NFL. The Pittsburgh team was known as the Pirates until 1940. In 1940, management held a team naming contest in which a fan submitted the name Steelers in homage to the city's predominant industry.

In 1962, the Steelers adopted the "Steelmark" logo, which had been created by U.S. Steel Corporation and later turned over to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) so that the design could represent the industry as a whole. While other NFL teams adopted logos during the 1950s, the Steelers simply added the players' numbers to the side of their gold helmets. It was at the suggestion of a Cleveland company, Republic Steel, that the team began to apply the Steelmark to its helmets. Unsure how well the logo would look against a gold background, the team elected to place the Steelmark on just one side. The word "Steel" inside the logo was changed to "Steelers" with the permission of AISI. When the team played in the 1962 Playoff Bowl, management, to mark the occasion, painted the Steelers helmets black, a change which served to better highlight the logo. The new combination was so well received that the team decided to make the look permanent. As a result, the Steelers became the only NFL team with its logo on just one side of the helmet.

So, in sum, the Steelers are the older franchise. The Cowboys logo (lone star) and color scheme was adopted 2 years earlier than the current Steelers logo (the AISI Steelmark) and black helmet.