Touchdowns & Tulle: A Goth Girl’s Guide to NFL Game Day
Football with fangs
By: The Lace Ledger Staff
Photo Credit: @ravens
Just because your closet is 87% black doesn’t mean your Sundays can’t sparkle with a little team spirit. Whether you’re in it for the snacks, the suspense, or the bloodsport—football might just be more gothic than you think.
For some, NFL football scratches a primal itch written deep in our DNA, a hunger for contest that feels ancient and sacred.
Each clash on the field is a small testament to the human spirit’s refusal to yield, bodies colliding in pursuit of something larger than personal glory.
Around it, grows a community—strangers drawn together by colours and chants, united in the pulse of the same play. In the roar of the stadium or the quiet of a living room watch party, fandom becomes a shared ritual that dissolves solitude and forges belonging.
Here are three delightfully dark teams worthy of your devotion and how to embrace your inner sports siren without sacrificing your edge.
1. Baltimore Ravens
Photo Credit: @ravens
Aesthetic: Gothic literature, black birds, pain with poetry.
Vibe: Tortured artist with a linebacker’s dangerous glare.
Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s beloved poem The Raven, this team is literal goth canon. The Baltimore Ravens channel the underdog spirit, poetic suffering and that never-say-die spirit we adore in our darkest heroines.
They’re not always favourites to win their conference, but they’re scrappy, loyal and full of heart—a team that keeps rising after every fall.
Perfect for fans who romanticize resilience and dress like a black bird even in August.
Photo Credit: Shop the Soho
Game Day Pairing: Black lace bodysuit under a black Raven’s tshirt or jersey, knee-high leather boots and themed cocktails like “The Tell-Tale Sip.”
2. Buffalo Bills
Photo Credit: @buffalobills
Aesthetic: Grit, loyalty, frozen endurance.
Vibe: Blue-collar resolve, winter-rough resilience, a hunger that refuses to die
The Bills are forged in snowstorms and heartbreak, a team whose mythology is as much about survival as it is about triumph. From their legendary fans who smash tables in icy parking lots to the four consecutive Super Bowl heartbreaks that never broke their spirit, the Bills channel the gothic poetry of endurance. They embody the ache of always reaching, of never yielding, of believing that tomorrow might finally deliver glory.
Perfect for goths that thrive on devotion, suffering and hope.
Photo Credit: NFL Shop
Game Day Pairing: Red jersey underneath a warm jacket, heavy black boots for stomping snow and a “Frozen Fury” spiked apple cider steaming in your hand.
3. Las Vegas Raiders
Photo Credit: @raiders
Aesthetic: Pirate punk, outlaw energy, silver and black.
Vibe: Chaos. Leather. Commitment to the bit.
Want a team that has never cared what anyone thinks? Meet the Raiders. With their iconic skull-and-crossbones look, gritty attitude and rebellious fanbase, they’ve been goth-coded since the 1970s.
They’re the bad boys of football—and they wear it like warpaint. Bonus points: the colour scheme already matches your wardrobe.
Perfect for the babe who likes her eyeliner smudged, her whiskey neat and her sports full of scandal.
Photo Credit: NFL Shop
Game Day Pairing: Cropped Raiders jersey with leather pants, silver hoops, smoky eyes and a playlist that starts with Mötley Crüe.
American football, in its spectacle of grit and glory, proves that devotion wears many colours. Whether you find yourself swept up in the roar of the stadium or curled up on the couch with your team-inspired drink in hand, the game delivers both catharsis and communion. It scratches the primal urge for triumph, binds us together in fandom and reminds us that resilience can be as beautiful as victory.
Whether you ride for Ravens, ball with the Bills, or raise hell with the Raiders—you belong with us on game day.
Now go tune in, in style. We’ll be right there with you.
