Team Colour Meanings

[fonz]

Anyone know the meanings of why certain teams wear certain colours? I think its really cool to see the history behind them.

For example, I think I heard somewhere the reason for the Ducks' new colours: Gold: California is the Golden State, Orange: they're located in Orange County, Black: due to success of previous 3rd jersey.

[Neon_Matrix]

The Leafs blue and white - blue skies and white clouds of Canada...or some pre stock market crash bs.

[Yankee Legend]

The New York Knicks, New York Liberty, New York Islanders and New York Mets chose Blue and Orange because those are the colors of New York City.

[dirwuf]

...New York Mets chose Blue and Orange because those are the colors of New York City.

I had always heard that the Mets chose blue and orange as a compromise for fans of the departed Dodgers and Giants...

The Chicago Bears navy and orange was chosen by George Halas as a tribute to his alma mater, the University of Illinois.

[winghaz]

Dirwuf is correct. The Mets chose blue for the Dodgers and orange for the Giants.

The fact that blue and orange or the city's colors just made it work out even better.

That's also a reason the Mets should never, NEVER, wear any black.

[seattlefan68]

According to CCLSC's logo fact: "After nearly 20 years of blue and yellow the Seattle Mariners went a drastically different route for the 1993 season. Known as the "Nautical Compass Rose" logo, its colour scheme of navy blue, metallic silver and Northwest green represents the sea, technology, and the great outdoors -- all of which are indigenous to the Seattle region."

[beesharps]

The Edmonton Oilers wore orange and blue in the early days of the WHA because owner Bill Hunter wanted to lure Gulf Oil (whose colours were also orange and blue) as a sponsor for the team. Gulf didn't bite, but the Oilers were stuck with the colours.

The big mystery is why St. Louis wears blue as their main colour. Makes no sense. Anybody?

[Discrim]

the Packers originally wore navy and gold due to Curly Lambeau having played for Notre Dame before forming the Packers. Likely because his mentor, Knute Rockne, occasionally put the Irish in green jerseys, Lambeau used green instead of navy infrequently, though he always went back to blue.

the Packers switched from navy to green in 1950 (or whereabouts) because the new coach thought it made more sense for a city called Green Bay to have a green-clad team. although the Packers revived navy a few years later when said coach was fired, green would return a couple years before Lombardi arrived.

[Lee.]

The Winnipeg Jets used red white and blue for their colors because they bought out the uniform stock of the old Junior Jets that used to play in the Velodrome back in the late 40's and 50's. Winnipeg was also once considered the "territory" of the New York Rangers back in the day, which helps to explain why so many Winnipeggers used to play for the Rangers.

[eSabre]

The Sabres first colors, blue and gold, were picked by Punch Imlach.

Imlach, former employee of the Toronto Maple Leafs, wanted uniforms like Toronto's, but decided to add gold because he wanted Buffalo to be a "classier" team.

The uniforms were strikingly similiar...

[Ron Mexico]

I know the Wild's are green (for MN wilderness,) gold ("harvest gold" for wheat farms,) and iron range red (for the iron range in northern MN.)

[ZoDogg34]

The Suns use purple and orange for the colors of the desert sunsets in Arizona

[Shroinke]

Probably one of the more storied team name/color origins:

The Cardinals (of the NFL) were originally based in Chicago in the early days of pro football. The owner

bought some old University of Chicago football uniforms for the team. When one person commented

on them, calling them faded red, he replied "it's not faded red, it's cardinal red". When the team was

rehashed for the NFL, they kept the name and over the years also added the bird as their symbol, even

though the team wasn't named for it.

[bulldogbarks55]

The Toronto Maple Leafs colo(u)rs were chosen by their legendary owner/founder Conn Smythe. Smythe, an alumnus of the University of Toronto and former manager of the Varsity Blues hockey team, chose Blue & White to hono(u)r his Alma Mater. The late Stan Obodiac, longtime Leafs' publicity man said that the "Blue was from the great Canadian sky" while the "White signified snow, meaning there would always be ice for hockey." GO LEAFS GO!

[ColeJ]

most teams wear their colors because they think they'll sell merch. lol

titans wear 2-tone blue, because navy blue is fashionable, and columbia blue is bud's favorite color.

stars wear green, gold, and black, because the north stars did... and they only added black, because black is fashionable.

mavs wear 2 tone blue, because royal blue is a traditional team color, and navy is fashionable.

[Hat Boy]

I had always heard that owner Leon hess made the NY Jets' colors green and white to match his business, Hess oil.

[iowahoo]

The Cleveland Browns colors of burnt orange and seal brown were borrowed from Bowling Green State University.

The first Browns trainning camp, in 1946 before the team had played a game in the AAFC, was held at B.G.S.U. The team, of course, had no uniforms or colors. Head Coach Paul Brown liked the color scheme used by the Falcons and took them for the Browns.

In the following years the Browns changed training camp locations but still kept a relationship with B.G. and even sent them old uniforms and equipment to use.

Bowling Green adopted the colors in 1919, I believe, because someone in the athletic department spotted the color combination on a woman's hat while riding an inter-urban train between Bowling Green and Toledo.

[Blue Falcon]

The Cleveland Browns colors of burnt orange and seal brown were borrowed from Bowling Green State University.

The first Browns trainning camp, in 1946 before the team had played a game in the AAFC, was held at B.G.S.U. The team, of course, had no uniforms or colors. Head Coach Paul Brown liked the color scheme used by the Falcons and took them for the Browns.

In the following years the Browns changed training camp locations but still kept a relationship with B.G. and even sent them old uniforms and equipment to use.

Bowling Green adopted the colors in 1919, I believe, because someone in the athletic department spotted the color combination on a woman's hat while riding an inter-urban train between Bowling Green and Toledo.

And the Detroit Lions wear black because....everyone else does, and they wanted to get on the bandwagon.

[Gothamite]

the Packers originally wore navy and gold due to Curly Lambeau having played for Notre Dame before forming the Packers. Likely because his mentor, Knute Rockne, occasionally put the Irish in green jerseys, Lambeau used green instead of navy infrequently, though he always went back to blue.

the Packers switched from navy to green in 1950 (or whereabouts) because the new coach thought it made more sense for a city called Green Bay to have a green-clad team. although the Packers revived navy a few years later when said coach was fired, green would return a couple years before Lombardi arrived.

Beat me to it.

An excellent summary. The only thing I can add is that the Packers continued to use blue as a secondary color into the 1960s, if only because they didn't replace their sideline capes:

You can get a good feel for the color here - they have one for sale.

Anybody care to loan me $4500?

[TruColor]

Here's one of the newer ones:

Atlanta Midnight Blue: "Inspired by the nighttime sky of one of the nation's premier cities."

Georgia Bronze: "Inspired by the state bird of Georgia, the Brown Thrasher."

Peachtree Gold: "Inspired by the colors of the Georgia Peach."

Capitol Copper: "Inspired by the warmth and friendliness of the 'Capitol of the South'."

Thrasher Ice Blue: "Inspired by the ice of the coolest new arena in sports."

Note: The Thrashers actually used different "blended" Pantone Metallic colors for the Bronze and the Copper when the logos and colors were first unveiled. However, they were changed to more conventional colors before the team first took to the ice. Here's what they originally looked like:

Here's another one...from the Golden State Warriors logo unveiling in 1997:

Midnight Blue: "The Warriors midnight blue represents the purity, loyalty and success of ancient and mythological Warriors."

Golden Gate Orange: "The Warriors orange is representative of the most valuable jewel in the Bay Area's rich treasure chest of recognizable landmarks, the Golden Gate Bridge."

California Yellow: "The Warriors yellow characterizes the most colorful state in the union from the bright Californian sun to the California state flower, the poppy."

Sky Blue: "This softer blue is symbolic of the clear skies over northern California and its inhabitants."