A case of two expansion teams with the same color scheme

[tscuzzy]

The Houston Rockets are wearing throwback uniforms in honor of their short lived time as the San Diego Rockets (1967-1971):

 

 

You might think, these are awfully similar colors to the green and yellow Seattle Supersonics. Interestingly enough, the Supersonics were also an expansion team in 1967. I thought this was highly unusual that two expansion teams had the exact same color scheme. On top of that... both teams being in the West, both cities starting with the letter S, I'm honestly surprised the NBA let this happen.

 

San Diego Rockets in 1969:

 

 

Seattle Supersonics in 1969:

 

 

They only shared colors for 4 years, as the Rockets moved to Houston and switched from green to red. My question is, can anyone think of any other time in sports history where two expansion teams were created the same year with the same color scheme? I couldn't find any other information regarding the shared colors between the Rockets and Sonics.

[sky1324]

The Washington Senators and Los Angeles Angels entered the American League in 1961 with a red, white, and blue color scheme. Not an expansion of course but the former Senators became the Twins and kept their old RWB scheme as well.

[dont care]

Jaguars and panthers were close with black a light shade of blue, and the big difference being tertiary colors of gold and silver

[raz]

Jax is teal, which has green tones. Carolina is process blue, a pure print blue. 

 

Not the same. 

[dont care]

8 hours ago, ralphz said:

Jax is teal, which has green tones. Carolina is process blue, a pure print blue. 

 

Not the same. 

I know, that’s just the closest I can think of. That’s specifically why I said “light shade of blue” and not teal, and process blue

[Discrim]

Kinda thought about the Colt 45s and Mets, both coming in in 62 with a shade of blue + orange.

Not quite the same, but the '69 expansion saw the AL add a blue/white team and a Seattle-based blue/gold team; the '77 expansion saw the AL add a blue/white team and a Seattle-based blue/gold team.

[ManillaToad]

8 minutes ago, Discrim said:

Kinda thought about the Colt 45s and Mets, both coming in in 62 with a shade of blue + orange.

Not quite the same, but the '69 expansion saw the AL add a blue/white team and a Seattle-based blue/gold team; the '77 expansion saw the AL add a blue/white team and a Seattle-based blue/gold team.

 

It's even closer than that. Seattle's teams had blue, white, powder blue, & gold and both of their expansion brothers were blue, white, & powder blue

[Cruhawk7975]

Not sure if it counts as "Expansion" per se, but in the USFL's first season in 1983,  a few teams had very similar looks:

 

• the Birmingham Stallions and Philadelphia Stars had basically identical Red and Gold color schemes in a 12-team league (2022 version somewhat mitigated this by giving Birmingham a darker red and tan look, with Philly keeping red and adding bright yellow). 
• Chicago Blitz and Tampa Bay Bandits had similar red and silver color schemes, with the difference being Chicago had a dark blue as an alternate color and Tampa had black.  The Memphis Showboats would also opt for a red and silver look when they joined the league in 1984
• Both the Houston Gamblers and Oklahoma Outlaws would have Red and Black color schemes when they joined in 1984, though Oklahoma would have black pants while Houston had grey. 
• Other teams also had similar looks to one another depending on Helmet-Jersey-Pants combos as well. That league had a lot overlap in its short tenure. 

[eastfirst107]

On 10/27/2022 at 6:42 PM, tscuzzy said:

 

 I'm honestly surprised the NBA let this happen.

 

This was 55 years ago...pretty sure the NBA's marketing/branding sense hadn't evolved to the point where they really would have cared about this at the time.
National merchandising was next to nil and most people watched TV in black and white...unless you specifically went to a Rockets-Sonics game, you probably wouldn't know what color the other team was, anyway.

[gosioux76]

1 hour ago, eastfirst107 said:

This was 55 years ago...pretty sure the NBA's marketing/branding sense hadn't evolved to the point where they really would have cared about this at the time.
National merchandising was next to nil and most people watched TV in black and white...unless you specifically went to a Rockets-Sonics game, you probably wouldn't know what color the other team was, anyway.

 

This is 100% correct. As much as we discuss the Big Four (NBA, NHL, MLB, NFL) today, back then it was really only the Big Two (MLB and NFL), and even at that, the NFL was still just on its ascent. The NBA did not become a serious phenomenon until the '70s or, it could be argued, the '80s. 

 

Long story short: Such things like branding strategy weren't likely as big of a priority.