Sports Franchises Color Changes

[Lumbergh]

What teams do you think have had too many color changes throughout their histories?

Houston Astros- They stayed consistent until navy and gold went off into brick and sand.

Atlanta Hawks- They've used every color it seems like and can't figure out what is an iconic combo. For me, it's yellow/red.

Cleveland Cavs- Sort of like the Hawks, I think their current combo is beautiful but they went through too many colors to get here.

Vancouver Canucks- The green and blue is the signature, but they did flip their combo in a weird way for almost 20 years.

The NFL has been the most consistent IMO of keeping a general team-by-team color combo that is signature for every team.

What are some of your favorite/least favorite color changes, and what current teams would you like to see maybe change colors?

P.S.

Miami Marlins made a big mistake ditching their teal.

[Dexter Morgan]

San Diego Padres

Milwaukee Brewers

[Still MIGHTY]

As far as teams having too many color changes, the winner is absolutely the Vancouver Canucks.

Blue/Green --> Black/Yellow/Red --> Navy Blue/Red/Silver/Other blue --> Blue/Green again

What are you, Canucks?

LA Kings as well. Purple/Gold (Lakers) --> Black/Silver/White (Raiders) --> Black/Silver/Purple (Sac. Kings) --> Black/White/Silver with purple alt --> Black/White/Silver with gold alt

[Dynasty]

Best change: Chicago White Sox (Black/White)

Worst change: Vancouver Canucks (Black/Red/Yellow)

[ScubaSteve]

Milwaukee Bucks can't seem to decide on a secondary color. But I kind of like that it's their thing. I hope in 10 years their new color scheme is forrest green and neon yellow (/s)

[SilverBullet1929]

There's a solid argument that the Padres have changed too much. Despite the love for the brown, I'm pretty sure the navy blue has already been around longer. The point is, there really isn't a definitive Padres color outside of people's own preferences. Even if you prefer the navy or the brown... there's navy/sand, navy/orange, brown/yellow, brown/orange, brown/yellow/orange. So yeah, them.

[nuordr]

Best Changes:

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 1998 - Creamsickle to Red & Pewter

Worst Changes:

Arizona Diamondbacks: 2006-2007 - Purple to Red

[Gothamite]

The Padres and Brewers would both be well-served by going back to their original color schemes.

I don't know that you can really say the NFL has been the most consistent, given the Chargers, Seahawks, Bucs, Bills and Rams. Plus there are teams like the 49ers, Lions and Cardinals who have adopted black jerseys out of nowhere.

[OnWis97]

I generally don't like color overhauls. I think teams that do that too often are lacking in historic identity. What colors do you associate the Padres with? Or the Canucks? These are the first two teams I think of when I think of teams with uncertain identities. I know uniforms are going to change for most teams but these do not necessarily mean an identity change (e.g., The Falcons have a second logo but have always at least been black/red).

Then you have teams like the Milwaukee Bucks, who have messed with their color scheme a lot but have maintained green as a part of it. I think there is value there vs. the Padres/Canucks. They are always green, at least. Look at the Eagles. I think their color palette has diminished greatly but even though they've used two shades, the green (and the helmet wings) give them a consistent identity for most fans. I don't like their look now but the Eagles are still the Eagles (note: I don't think this works as well with blue; the Astros keeping blue when they went to blue/gold did not maintain that one bit)

At most, a team should change it's full color scheme once a generation. I am 40 and I remember three very distinct schemes for the Canucks. I remember three very distinct schemes for the Astros. Depending on your interpretation, I remember a bunch for the Padres (brown/orange/yellow, brown/orange, blue/orange, blue/sand, blue). That's too much change. These teams have watered-down identities, at least to me. And look at the Astros...they are the Astros again. Now the question of their identity has been answered.

LIKE

• Bucs creamsicle to pewter (I think downgrade, but they really needed the overhaul at that point)
• Astros move back to blue/orange; now we know their identity.
• White Sox to black/white (the move went against my philosophies but I am giving them the hindsight thumbs up because they've stuck with it for the first time in their history)

CAN LIVE WITH (even though most are downgrades)

• Lions adding black (huge downgrade but the Lions are still the Lions)
• Flames adding black (huge downgrade but the Flames are still the Flames)
• Devils (huge downgrade but with the red and logo, the Devils are still the Devils; man do I miss the Christmas uniforms)

DON'T LIKE (even if some are upgrades like bucks dumping purple for red)

• Bucks...I know I pointed out the green, but they change the other colors far too often.
• Canucks: who are they?
• Padres: save for using an interlocking "SD" all the time, who are they?
• Hawks...I could deal with adding black unnecessarily but now they are a whole new team
• Cavs: Their current primaries (i.e., no blue) is a HUGE upgrade but this is a team that has messed with its colors far too much. I would love with them to dump the blue alt and stick with this. If we are lucky, after they essentially go back to LeBron Era I, they'll stick with that for the forseeable future.

"JUST ADD BLACK"

• 1980s Jets: Good addition...the Jets were still the Jets
• Royals and Lions: Bad addition, but they did not totally overhaul who they were
• Mets: Worse than the Royals because they were on the edge of overhauling who they were. They seemed to rely on it a bit more. But the Mets were still the Mets.

COLLEGE

• This bugs me more than the pros. Stick with school colors. Most schools don't overhaul but I feel like some do. I want to say Western Michigan went from Padres-like brown/yellow to black/gold. (or are they still brown; I can never tell). That bugs me.

[TCutt]

If we're discussing teams with a lot of changes, one that needs to be mentioned is the Utah Jazz. Since 1996, the Jazz's colors have been:

Purple/Green/Yellow --> Purple/Light Blue/Greenish trim/Black --> Light blue/Navy Blue/Purple/Gray --> Navy Blue/Green/Yellow

Personally I'm a fan of the original Purple/Green/Yellow scheme and the current scheme, but that is still a lot of change over 20 years.

Taking from OnWis97, these are a few my thoughts on other changes over the years

Love: Sabres, black/red to current blue/yellow, 76ers Black/gold/red to current blue/red

Can live with: Mariners blue/yellow to teal/navy (They're showing sings of returning thankfully), Grizzlies changing in the move from Vancouver to Memphis. I like the look they have now, but I was always a huge fan of the black and teal, it was great to me.

Dislike: Nets ditching all colors in the move to Brooklyn (I almost hate it, but they haven't made me despise it yet), LA Kings dropping purple and gold for the black and white look.

In looking, it also makes me a little sad how many teams moved away from the royal blue and brighter green to either navy blue and gray or some other scheme (Seahawks, Hawks, Timberwolves, etc.) I think the moral of the story for me here is that I'm in love with the original bright colors of some of these teams and I think every team needs a little color in their sets.

[Lumbergh]

LIKE

• Bucs creamsicle to pewter (I think downgrade, but they really needed the overhaul at that point)
• Astros move back to blue/orange; now we know their identity.
• White Sox to black/white (the move went against my philosophies but I am giving them the hindsight thumbs up because they've stuck with it for the first time in their history)

CAN LIVE WITH (even though most are downgrades)

• Lions adding black (huge downgrade but the Lions are still the Lions)
• Flames adding black (huge downgrade but the Flames are still the Flames)
• Devils (huge downgrade but with the red and logo, the Devils are still the Devils; man do I miss the Christmas uniforms)

DON'T LIKE (even if some are upgrades like bucks dumping purple for red)

• Bucks...I know I pointed out the green, but they change the other colors far too often.
• Canucks: who are they?
• Padres: save for using an interlocking "SD" all the time, who are they?
• Hawks...I could deal with adding black unnecessarily but now they are a whole new team
• Cavs: Their current primaries (i.e., no blue) is a HUGE upgrade but this is a team that has messed with its colors far too much. I would love with them to dump the blue alt and stick with this. If we are lucky, after they essentially go back to LeBron Era I, they'll stick with that for the forseeable future.

"JUST ADD BLACK"

• 1980s Jets: Good addition...the Jets were still the Jets
• Royals and Lions: Bad addition, but they did not totally overhaul who they were
• Mets: Worse than the Royals because they were on the edge of overhauling who they were. They seemed to rely on it a bit more. But the Mets were still the Mets.

COLLEGE

• This bugs me more than the pros. Stick with school colors. Most schools don't overhaul but I feel like some do. I want to say Western Michigan went from Padres-like brown/yellow to black/gold. (or are they still brown; I can never tell). That bugs me.

Some really great points here. I totally agree with the adding black part for the Mets. When the Mets did that I think they lost some of their historical zest that we had come to know. I am really glad they went back to their classic color scheme. I think when the Lions did it, it was a great move. The overall consensus I think from my peers who also watched football was that the Lions looked too much like the Cowboys. Even though the Lions can claim much more history as a team, it has to come down to the Cowboys ruling the 90's pop-culture scene (even though the Lions had the best RB ever). Detroit was trying to distance themselves from that, and I think black has worked really well as another color for them.

I think the overuse of navy in baseball is so apparent now that if the Padres brought back brown and stuck with it, they would hit a home run. Not only with merchandising, but with being so original as the "brown" team in the MLB that it could help them stand-out a lot better.

[WavePunter]

Color overhauls are so much more jarring and likely to get as much backlash as praise, which is likely why teams progress through a palette than simply jumping from one to the next, but this tends to lead to so much confusion and muddling of the team's identity during these times (late 2000's Bills for example). Teams use logic in these strategic branding moves, but it rarely works out for them better than a full changeover.. A rare example of phasing an element out successfully would be the current Orioles (just my speculation).. I would imagine they drop the ornithologically correct bird from their primary in the next few years, but have kept it to ease the burden of logo/identity overhaul..

For the most part, teams should stay within the confines of their identity, but if you must change, just rip the bandaid off and get it over with, because dragging an identity/color overhaul out over several years is almost never successful in any way, shape, or form

[KDubK414]

Say what you will about the Brewers changes, at least they've had shades of blue and gold in their scheme over the years. The problem is that they dramatically changed after the BiG and royal/athletic gold era. The Germanic/Motre Bame era was a monster change that even I couldn't wrap my head around. Looking back, it was a great set. I grew to love it, and now it's one of my white whales along with the script Unis from the BiG era. The current set is really good! Not great, I love the hat logo, but there is still something off.

The Bucks are another story. I love the new, well current scheme. It's another tale of taking too long to modernize yet look back on the history. Purple came out of nowhere and I never really liked it. Then they brought red back, but it didn't jibe well because it tried too hard and tried to "modernize" the 90's logo and wordmarks. But to be fair, they have kept green around.

[MCM0313]

I generally don't like color overhauls. I think teams that do that too often are lacking in historic identity. What colors do you associate the Padres with? Or the Canucks? These are the first two teams I think of when I think of teams with uncertain identities. I know uniforms are going to change for most teams but these do not necessarily mean an identity change (e.g., The Falcons have a second logo but have always at least been black/red).

Then you have teams like the Milwaukee Bucks, who have messed with their color scheme a lot but have maintained green as a part of it. I think there is value there vs. the Padres/Canucks. They are always green, at least. Look at the Eagles. I think their color palette has diminished greatly but even though they've used two shades, the green (and the helmet wings) give them a consistent identity for most fans. I don't like their look now but the Eagles are still the Eagles (note: I don't think this works as well with blue; the Astros keeping blue when they went to blue/gold did not maintain that one bit)

At most, a team should change it's full color scheme once a generation. I am 40 and I remember three very distinct schemes for the Canucks. I remember three very distinct schemes for the Astros. Depending on your interpretation, I remember a bunch for the Padres (brown/orange/yellow, brown/orange, blue/orange, blue/sand, blue). That's too much change. These teams have watered-down identities, at least to me. And look at the Astros...they are the Astros again. Now the question of their identity has been answered.

LIKE

• Bucs creamsicle to pewter (I think downgrade, but they really needed the overhaul at that point)
• Astros move back to blue/orange; now we know their identity.
• White Sox to black/white (the move went against my philosophies but I am giving them the hindsight thumbs up because they've stuck with it for the first time in their history)

CAN LIVE WITH (even though most are downgrades)

• Lions adding black (huge downgrade but the Lions are still the Lions)
• Flames adding black (huge downgrade but the Flames are still the Flames)
• Devils (huge downgrade but with the red and logo, the Devils are still the Devils; man do I miss the Christmas uniforms)

DON'T LIKE (even if some are upgrades like bucks dumping purple for red)

• Bucks...I know I pointed out the green, but they change the other colors far too often.
• Canucks: who are they?
• Padres: save for using an interlocking "SD" all the time, who are they?
• Hawks...I could deal with adding black unnecessarily but now they are a whole new team
• Cavs: Their current primaries (i.e., no blue) is a HUGE upgrade but this is a team that has messed with its colors far too much. I would love with them to dump the blue alt and stick with this. If we are lucky, after they essentially go back to LeBron Era I, they'll stick with that for the forseeable future.

"JUST ADD BLACK"

• 1980s Jets: Good addition...the Jets were still the Jets
• Royals and Lions: Bad addition, but they did not totally overhaul who they were
• Mets: Worse than the Royals because they were on the edge of overhauling who they were. They seemed to rely on it a bit more. But the Mets were still the Mets.

COLLEGE

• This bugs me more than the pros. Stick with school colors. Most schools don't overhaul but I feel like some do. I want to say Western Michigan went from Padres-like brown/yellow to black/gold. (or are they still brown; I can never tell). That bugs me.

I actually think the Royals' addition of black was one of the worst BFBS of all time. Just completely pointless and bad-looking. As for the Lions, I sort of understand that they didn't want to look like the Cowboys, but quite frankly I don't think they ever DID look like the Cowboys---Honolulu blue is way different from the navy blue Dallas wears or even the royal blue the Cowboys wear on their white jerseys. The Lions had their own distinct look, and they still do, although I wish they'd simplify it a bit. (And widen the helmet stripe, but that's for another day.)

As for Western Michigan, I don't remember them wearing yellow rather than metallic gold (they probably made that switch before I ever saw them in a game, given that the MAC doesn't get great TV coverage even in Ohio), but I do know that brown is one of their school colors and I'm 99.99% sure they mostly wear black instead of brown these days. Don't get that decision; if you have a unique color scheme, show it off!

[BadSeed84]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Tampa Bay Rays yet.

Interestingly this season makes their current color scheme and look the longest look they have worn now. (The green look was worn for 7 seasons, the blue and light blue look is now in its 8th season).

It seems like though this is the look that stuck on the most and will be synonymous with the rays, of course unless they change it.

[Spurs99030507]

Spurs Logo 1970's Black and silver

1988 logo added Fiesta Colors teal pink orange....colors were on the warm ups till 1997 Black and Sliver on jerseys only

2003 Logo back to black and silver

[Lumbergh]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Tampa Bay Rays yet.

Interestingly this season makes their current color scheme and look the longest look they have worn now. (The green look was worn for 7 seasons, the blue and light blue look is now in its 8th season).

It seems like though this is the look that stuck on the most and will be synonymous with the rays, of course unless they change it.

I think the organization has come leaps and bounds by switching the name to Rays and doing the navy/powder/yellow combo. I remember back when they came out with the gradient/purple/green/black look and I thought it was too weird for baseball...The colors have grown on me, and the hat logo has grown on me. I have to admit, the fauxback has grown on me too.

[MCM0313]

Spurs Logo 1970's Black and silver

1988 logo added Fiesta Colors teal pink orange....colors were on the warm ups till 1997 Black and Sliver on jerseys only

2003 Logo back to black and silver

I loved the fiesta logo.

[Morgan33]

Pittsburgh Penguins. Technically they're variations on two times but vegas and athletic are different enough that I'm counting them. They've had 4 colour schemes if you count the years where Navy was dominant over Powder Blue.

[Discogod]

Houston Rockets? From green & gold to red & mustard to navy, red & silver to red & white, they've been all over the place.