2024 NFL Changes

[burgundy]

6 minutes ago, rfraser85 said:

Is it possible for the NFL to reject a new design based on feedback from fans immediately after the reveal? I remember the 49ers in 1991 tried to release a new design for the helmets, and the reaction was so negative that the design was scrapped. While that was just the helmets, I would think Nike or the NFL saves the templates somewhere.

 

They've already produced tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of jerseys. Unless the Broncos want to eat a crap ton of costs, there's no going back. Helmets might be a different story. From my experience buying mini helmets, helmet merch has probably not been produced yet.

 

[gosioux76]

16 hours ago, Krona said:

Make this weirdo helmet happen. I was endlessly intrigued by these coaches jackets when I was a kid.

 

It's a wonder why the Suburban Dad Sideline Collection never took off. 

[Cujo]

21 minutes ago, rfraser85 said:

Is it possible for the NFL to reject a new design based on feedback from fans immediately after the reveal?

 

I would say no, but R******/WFT/Commanders were able to swerve the rule recently. 

[rfraser85]

10 minutes ago, burgundy said:

 

They've already produced tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of jerseys. Unless the Broncos want to eat a crap ton of costs, there's no going back. Helmets might be a different story. From my experience buying mini helmets, helmet merch has probably not been produced yet.

 

 

True, but they also produce a lot of phantom memorabilia for teams that lose the Super Bowl. The shirts are probably easier to produce than jerseys, but it's not unheard of to produce clothes that don't get sold.

[Carolingian Steamroller]

11 hours ago, SFGiants58 said:

Yeah, that’s too dark of a plot line/art history to reference. Is this horse reference better?

 

 

“Peetah, the horse is here.”

 

[damnyoutuesday]

Has this board jumped the shark?

 

We're already talking about negative fan feedback causing a change on a uniform set we haven't even sniffed a leak on yet

[KouPilot]

16 minutes ago, MNtwins3 said:

Has this board jumped the shark?

 

We're already talking about negative fan feedback causing a change on a uniform set we haven't even sniffed a leak on yet

I've been away from the board for a long time but it does feel a little bit more negative. I think it's just a sign of the times. It does feel like 50% of nike era redesigns get redesigned in pretty quick order.

[rfraser85]

31 minutes ago, MNtwins3 said:

Has this board jumped the shark?

 

We're already talking about negative fan feedback causing a change on a uniform set we haven't even sniffed a leak on yet

 

I'm only talking about a hypothetical. Believe me, I want the new uniforms to be good.

[Krona]

34 minutes ago, KouPilot said:

I've been away from the board for a long time but it does feel a little bit more negative. I think it's just a sign of the times. It does feel like 50% of nike era redesigns get redesigned in pretty quick order.

Putting on my tin foil hat for a moment, Nike seems to have a knack at putting out sets that garner 40-60% approval, leaving 40-60% wanting more. City Edition/Connection is another lane of the highway. A large majority of their clientele is living in the petri dish. There's a vibe of planned obsolescence in what they produce. Capital Rules Everything Around Me.

[DCarp1231]

I hope the Broncos go with a white primary helmet just to get bullied back into a blue one.

[PurpleHayes]

28 minutes ago, DCarp1231 said:

I hope the Broncos go with a white primary helmet just to get bullied back into a blue one.

 

Can we start a thread for the inevitable change by the Broncos back to the blue helmet in 2029?

[thisguyphelps]

Just one more week for us to mess around here before we get into the nitty gritty, Jets unveiling is on the 14th? (don't quote me I just read the uni-watch preview)

[MJWalker45]

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/nfl-players-union-approve-8-143015834.html

New helmets have been authorized for wear. 

[Haz_Matt]

11 hours ago, burgundy said:

 

They've already produced tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of jerseys. Unless the Broncos want to eat a crap ton of costs, there's no going back. 

 

They waived Russ and ate a ton of money already... what's a few million more?

[Brave-Bird 08]

I think it's fair that people tracking this thread specifically, and uniform trends in general, are more negative than "usual." 

 

I really appreciated Paul Lukas' interviews he posted with that former Nike creative, but it showcased to me a dynamic between the parties that be when these uniform projects are undergone that has potential to be worse now than ever -- there's too many cooks in the kitchen and events that can happen during these processes where poor opinion/input/perception can take over. 

 

Call me crazy -- or cynical -- but I just feel like that in the past uniform designs always felt polished, thoughtful, congruent and in the past few decades we've instead slipped into this meta where not only is quality control down, but companies are cheapening internal processes (when they think they're streamlining them) and folks who aren't qualified to make decisions are unfortunately in the position of power to make them (could go on a tangent about this in every industry, not just sports design). 

 

Did you see the quote in that interview about either Malcolm Glazer, or one of his children, where they used one of those notorious bad "Nike NFL" photoshops from circa 2012 and was like "why can't you do this?" And the Nike team basically had to be like, "well s---, we have to execute on their orders. These are going to suck!" 

 

That's how we got the Buccaneers, Titans, Jaguars, Browns, Jets, Falcons, etc. 

 

Add to the mix that the trend of wearing monochrome head-to-toe is becoming universal across the league because of brainless trend-following that has been perpetuated by this TikTok, social media clout-chasing era we live in, and it's more likely we keep seeing more of the same poor uniform elements versus actually getting something that is both interesting and looks good. 

 

Between the chorus of rejected uniform designs and downgrades in the NFL, the dilution of the meaning of a uniform in the NBA, and the absolute hilarity happening in MLB right now, what reason do any of us have to anticipate anything but more of the same in the next few weeks? 

[henburg]

16 minutes ago, Brave-Bird 08 said:

I think it's fair that people tracking this thread specifically, and uniform trends in general, are more negative than "usual." 

 

I really appreciated Paul Lukas' interviews he posted with that former Nike creative, but it showcased to me a dynamic between the parties that be when these uniform projects are undergone that has potential to be worse now than ever -- there's too many cooks in the kitchen and events that can happen during these processes where poor opinion/input/perception can take over. 

 

Call me crazy -- or cynical -- but I just feel like that in the past uniform designs always felt polished, thoughtful, congruent and in the past few decades we've instead slipped into this meta where not only is quality control down, but companies are cheapening internal processes (when they think they're streamlining them) and folks who aren't qualified to make decisions are unfortunately in the position of power to make them (could go on a tangent about this in every industry, not just sports design). 

 

Did you see the quote in that interview about either Malcolm Glazer, or one of his children, where they used one of those notorious bad "Nike NFL" photoshops from circa 2012 and was like "why can't you do this?" And the Nike team basically had to be like, "well s---, we have to execute on their orders. These are going to suck!" 

 

That's how we got the Buccaneers, Titans, Jaguars, Browns, Jets, Falcons, etc. 

 

Add to the mix that the trend of wearing monochrome head-to-toe is becoming universal across the league because of brainless trend-following that has been perpetuated by this TikTok, social media clout-chasing era we live in, and it's more likely we keep seeing more of the same poor uniform elements versus actually getting something that is both interesting and looks good. 

 

Between the chorus of rejected uniform designs and downgrades in the NFL, the dilution of the meaning of a uniform in the NBA, and the absolute hilarity happening in MLB right now, what reason do any of us have to anticipate anything but more of the same in the next few weeks? 

 

The "too many cooks in the kitchen" bit is particularly on target in my opinion. Everything is heavily focus-grouped or run up and down the hierarchy of an organization multiple times before we ever get to see it. This Broncos redesign in particular has apparently been through a years long design process where many rounds of fan input were taken. Even the Texans new uniforms sound like they're aiming to please everybody through using a unique design philosophy for each uniform. Now do good designs still come out of these processes sometimes? I believe so, but it's more difficult and we're less likely to see truly interesting ideas come out at the end. 

[PurpleHayes]

10 hours ago, Brave-Bird 08 said:

Call me crazy -- or cynical -- but I just feel like that in the past uniform designs always felt polished, thoughtful, congruent and in the past few decades we've instead slipped into this meta where not only is quality control down, but companies are cheapening internal processes (when they think they're streamlining them) and folks who aren't qualified to make decisions are unfortunately in the position of power to make them (could go on a tangent about this in every industry, not just sports design). 

 

Add to the mix that the trend of wearing monochrome head-to-toe is becoming universal across the league because of brainless trend-following that has been perpetuated by this TikTok, social media clout-chasing era we live in, and it's more likely we keep seeing more of the same poor uniform elements versus actually getting something that is both interesting and looks good. 

 

Between the chorus of rejected uniform designs and downgrades in the NFL, the dilution of the meaning of a uniform in the NBA, and the absolute hilarity happening in MLB right now, what reason do any of us have to anticipate anything but more of the same in the next few weeks? 

 

Yes, they used to use professionals who had good taste, something which I feel is lacking now in the Nike era, where it's all about making a splashy uniform that will generate love 'em/hate 'em vibes, because to Nike there is no such thing as bad publicity.

 

It also gives them an excuse to use the "we listened to the fans" explanation when they undo the changes and go back to a more traditional uniform...which begs the question as to why they didn't "listen to the fans" in the first place before adding side panels, alarm clock numbers, piping, chrome facemasks, shoulder panels, stupid number fonts, etc.

 

No one in their right mind would say that the fans demanded these changes.

 

One reason: Nike HATES fans who like traditional uniforms, because it makes it harder to roll out an all-new design every five years...they would do it every single year if the NFL let them, and every NFL team would also become like Oregon with 1,572 uniform combinations.

 

The blame for the rise in monochrome is squarely on the players, who in my opinion should not be put in charge of deciding what uniform to wear, or should be trusted to understand what even looks good. Every current NFL player grew up watching Any Given Sunday (or that putrid Longest Yard remake) with its' mono-black and mono-white unis, but this doesn't mean they look good on the field to the FAN.

 

[The Impaler]

I don't think monochrome is bad, in fact the only monochrome I really don't care for is white, just think it's boring.  However, I think monochrome is just poorly executed too often.  Saints and Ravens are the first to come to mind.  Put striping on the pants and opposite socks and all the sudden those two looks are much more palatable.  I'm not saying every team should have a monochrome look by any means, and I think for teams such as the Patriots silver pants should be standard home (actually white, scrap the silver, but that's another story).

[Bomba Tomba]

The Ravens should definitely add a stripe to their black pants

 

The Saints, on the other hand, should ditch theirs completely. FOCUS ON GOLD YOU COWARDS

[rfraser85]

22 minutes ago, The Impaler said:

I don't think monochrome is bad, in fact the only monochrome I really don't care for is white, just think it's boring.  However, I think monochrome is just poorly executed too often.  Saints and Ravens are the first to come to mind.  Put striping on the pants and opposite socks and all the sudden those two looks are much more palatable.  I'm not saying every team should have a monochrome look by any means, and I think for teams such as the Patriots silver pants should be standard home (actually white, scrap the silver, but that's another story).

 

The main problem with monochrome is that it's been overdone. I agree with your point about the socks, in fact I may have liked Color Rush more if the socks didn't also match. When the Browns used orange socks with their CR uniforms, it was a massive improvement, especially since they provided a nice bookend with the helmets.