The NFL has alternate uniforms figured out

[Kevin W.]

All the new stuff Nike's cooked up for WSU and Boise use school colours.

To be fair, Nike introduced that gross gray color to Boise State's palette with the football uniforms. It has since spread to lacrosse and hockey. In reality, the only time it looked good was on those silver ProCombat uniforms.

It could be worse. At least the uniforms are still majority blue/orange. If Nike controlled Boise like they control Oregon, you guys would be wearing all-gray uniforms, and it'd be more than just once a year.

[thespleenenator]

Anyway, my thoughts about this rule: I don't think it's necessary. The only rule should be that the throwbacks and alternates should either be team colors or neutral colors. That would solve the problem (unless you still suck, then nothing can bring you more sales).

The rule already exists for the alts. They have to be in team colors.

And what exactly is a "neutral color" for throwback uniforms?

For throwbacks they should only be team colors (if the NFL is really concerned with identity). Neutral colors are black and white. none of this gray .

[Lights Out]

I'd hesitate to call black a neutral color because, unlike white, black seems to overpower other colors (unless black is actually a significant part of a team's color scheme).

[Gothamite]

Black? Neutral color?

Not when other teams use it as their primary.

[BrandMooreArt]

Black? Neutral color?

Not when other teams use it as their primary.

whats the difference? anything in the value scale (black, grey, white) are neutral colors (as well as light tans/beiges) because they work well with a variety of color palettes. a neutral color will allow the other colors with it to be emphasized, or command more attention. that dosnt mean a neutral color cant be the primary color used at all. (not to be confused with the primary colors in the color wheel, red, yellow, and blue)

[mania]

Does every football thread turn into a Pac 12 argument?

It's my fault. I shouldn't have brought Oregon into this.

No :censored:ing .

[IceCap]

I'd hardly call it dumb. In a business as big as the NFL brand recognizably is crucial. And making sure that your teams wear their primary uniforms when playing on national television will help a ton with brand recognizably. This is also why they limit teams to one helmet (besides throwbacks), so that they can be instantly recognized by fans. This, while not a necessary change, definitely is not a dumb one.

Unless half the audience watching a game was seeing NFL football for the first time, these rules are idiotic. There's no reason to limit the alternate uniforms to Sundays only.

Yeah, there is. Playing in prime time means your team's been selected to play in a marquee game. Is it so much to ask that teams chosen for these games wear the looks they're best known in?

[MJWalker45]

For big games you want to roll out your biggest guns, true. But the fans actually get behind blackouts, whiteouts and (insert color)outs so why not use that extra energy for the big game. And yes the main purpose of alternates are more money sales so why not roll out the alts when you'll have the widest audience available to see them. I'm sure the teams probably even see a bump in sales of alternate jerseys and alternate apparel at the stadium when they roll out in them as well. I remember when Cleveland broke out the orange jerseys in 2002, the Browns Backers group I was with in San Antonio was jealous because they couldn't get a hold of any because it was a low key event until the week before they wore them. So if they were at the game they would have been racing to get another piece of team gear. That's why the rule is stupid. For small market teams, some of whom arer poorly run, that extra exposure could mean more revenue. Not that they'll be going belly up since the networks have overpaid for the product, but it's still more income that some of them actually need.

[Gothamite]

Black? Neutral color?

Not when other teams use it as their primary.

whats the difference? anything in the value scale (black, grey, white) are neutral colors (as well as light tans/beiges) because they work well with a variety of color palettes. a neutral color will allow the other colors with it to be emphasized, or command more attention. that dosnt mean a neutral color cant be the primary color used at all. (not to be confused with the primary colors in the color wheel, red, yellow, and blue)

Yes, but not in this context.

Black is not a "neutral color" in a team-color context. Ask the Mets, Royals and Reds. Adding black significantly changes a color scheme.

And specifically in his example, he's talking about using black in place of a team's color scheme, as if that didn't matter or didn't change the team's colors.

A black Packers alt wouldn't somehow magically be less out of their standard color scheme than the blue alts are, simply by virtue of their being black.

[Panthers]

"Clash" uniforms? Hmmm. Interesting. So that means in a case like Dallas at New England several years ago (Patriots - silver helmets, silver jerseys, blue pants) and Dallas (silver, blue, silver), what would a "clash" consist of and who would wear them?

Does that mean that every time there is a white vs. white game (Miami/Jets, now Buffalo/Jets, etc.) or a black game (Ravens/Steelers), one team should wear a different coloted helmet?

Further, to strengthen identity, should each team wear a logo on its sleeve (think WLAF/NFL E - all the teams, save for San Antonio the first year had sleeve logos).

I am tired though of the special "throwback days". If you remember, the Jets started this whole thing going with unis I think in '92 or '93. It was to commemorate their Super Bowl victory. Of course it was poorly designed. Old Jet uniforms, present Jets logo on a green helmet. And they played the Bengals. Do the Jets and engals have a super bowl history? Bears-Packers. OK. Chargers-Raiders, ok. Bills-Patriots, ok. Steelers-Browns, ok. Steelers-Ravens? No.

As a sidebar, I like soccer. I'm not for the Euro-centric branding. Let's not go down that road. Don't want to rile up Zen Master Ice Cap.

Isn't the NFL on strike anyway? So exactly why do we care?

[BlueSky]

"Clash" uniforms? Hmmm. Interesting. So that means in a case like Dallas at New England several years ago (Patriots - silver helmets, silver jerseys, blue pants) and Dallas (silver, blue, silver), what would a "clash" consist of and who would wear them?

Does that mean that every time there is a white vs. white game (Miami/Jets, now Buffalo/Jets, etc.) or a black game (Ravens/Steelers), one team should wear a different coloted helmet?

Further, to strengthen identity, should each team wear a logo on its sleeve (think WLAF/NFL E - all the teams, save for San Antonio the first year had sleeve logos).

I am tired though of the special "throwback days". If you remember, the Jets started this whole thing going with unis I think in '92 or '93. It was to commemorate their Super Bowl victory. Of course it was poorly designed. Old Jet uniforms, present Jets logo on a green helmet. And they played the Bengals. Do the Jets and engals have a super bowl history? Bears-Packers. OK. Chargers-Raiders, ok. Bills-Patriots, ok. Steelers-Browns, ok. Steelers-Ravens? No.

As a sidebar, I like soccer. I'm not for the Euro-centric branding. Let's not go down that road. Don't want to rile up Zen Master Ice Cap.

Isn't the NFL on strike anyway? So exactly why do we care?

No, the players are locked out. A fairly huge difference.

[Panthers]

BTW what would constitute a "Clash" game in the NFL? I just saw highlights of a Browns-Chiefs game from 1975. Browns wore orange/brown/orange and Chiefs red/white/red. Very colorful game. Same w/ Buffalo at San Diego in 1973 Bills (white/white/blue) and Chargers (white/lt/ blue/gold). Both games I would consider extremely colorful. Should one of the teams have worn all black or all white then?

[IceCap]

BTW what would constitute a "Clash" game in the NFL?

vs

[Kevin W.]

nvm

[Gothamite]

I am tired though of the special "throwback days". If you remember, the Jets started this whole thing going with unis I think in '92 or '93. It was to commemorate their Super Bowl victory. Of course it was poorly designed. Old Jet uniforms, present Jets logo on a green helmet. And they played the Bengals.

[thespleenenator]

"Clash" uniforms? Hmmm. Interesting. So that means in a case like Dallas at New England several years ago (Patriots - silver helmets, silver jerseys, blue pants) and Dallas (silver, blue, silver), what would a "clash" consist of and who would wear them?

Does that mean that every time there is a white vs. white game (Miami/Jets, now Buffalo/Jets, etc.) or a black game (Ravens/Steelers), one team should wear a different coloted helmet?

Further, to strengthen identity, should each team wear a logo on its sleeve (think WLAF/NFL E - all the teams, save for San Antonio the first year had sleeve logos).

I am tired though of the special "throwback days". If you remember, the Jets started this whole thing going with unis I think in '92 or '93. It was to commemorate their Super Bowl victory. Of course it was poorly designed. Old Jet uniforms, present Jets logo on a green helmet. And they played the Bengals. Do the Jets and engals have a super bowl history? Bears-Packers. OK. Chargers-Raiders, ok. Bills-Patriots, ok. Steelers-Browns, ok. Steelers-Ravens? No.

As a sidebar, I like soccer. I'm not for the Euro-centric branding. Let's not go down that road. Don't want to rile up Zen Master Ice Cap.

Isn't the NFL on strike anyway? So exactly why do we care?

lolwut?

[bigwalk]

Uniform = UNIFORMITY = recognizable brand.

Yeah, I don't think your concept of "uniform" really applies in this instance. When we're talking about team uniforms, we're talking about something worn to distinguish one team from another. So it's not so much that uniform = uniformity, but rather uniform = me being able to readily identifiy my teammates rather than opponents.

[WSU151]

I am tired though of the special "throwback days". If you remember, the Jets started this whole thing going with unis I think in '92 or '93. It was to commemorate their Super Bowl victory. Of course it was poorly designed. Old Jet uniforms, present Jets logo on a green helmet. And they played the Bengals.

While I'm not tired of throwback games (I love NFL throwbacks), I do remember the Jets uniform you're talking about. First used in '93 I think, then again in '94 for 75th. Green helmet, black mask, Namath-era Jets logo on it...'93 helmet didn't have stripes, but '94 helmet had two white stripes. And they wore modified version of Namath-era uniform.

[BlueSky]

Heinous indeed, without question one of the most ill-conceived and poorly executed excuses for a helmet design ever seen on an NFL field. The helmet trashes the entire uni. Awful.

[thespleenenator]

Heinous indeed, without question one of the most ill-conceived and poorly executed excuses for a helmet design ever seen on an NFL field. The helmet trashes the entire uni. Awful.

I may be in the minority, but besides the socks I like those uniforms. The helmet actually looks really good. The current uniform with that helmet would be a greta uni.