NFL Team colors...

[CAVALIER]

The Saints first owner, John Mecom, was an oil man "black gold". Thus black and gold who dats.....

[Spearhead]

Bud Adams chose Columbia blue and red for the Oilers to duplicate the look the Kansas Jayhawks had at the time. Adams went to KU.

Lamar Hunt played football at SMU in the 1950s (with Forest Gregg and Raymond Berry) and the Texans' look was a copy of the Mustangs' uniforms from his day, which did not incorporate blue. The gold was a brighter accent than the gray SMU used.

[illwauk]

The Bears don't use dark navy because it simulates a bear. Probably chosen because the owner liked the colors. There are no navy bears in any forest as far as I know.

Actually there are... sort of. The fur of many black bears... and black panthers... has a bluish underhue that makes them look blue under some lighting. Pitt, which was the first school to adopt the Panther as its mascot, supposedly chose blue and gold as their colors to simulate the colors of actual panthers. But the Bears got their colors because George Halas was an Illinois alum.

[Gothamite]

Yup, Curly Lambeau played at Notre Dame before forming the Packers and brought their tradition of blue & gold, but occasionally green to Green Bay with him. Green & Gold didn't become official until Vince Lombardi's first year when he insisted "We're the GREEN Bay Packers!"

Actually, it was Gene Ronzani who said that, when he took over the Packers in 1950. But Gene didn't win a whole lotta games, so the Pack kept bouncing back between blue and green until Lombardi came to town in 1959 to settle the matter once and for all.

And he was color-blind.

[WSU151]

The Bears don't use dark navy because it simulates a bear. Probably chosen because the owner liked the colors. There are no navy bears in any forest as far as I know.

Actually there are... sort of. The fur of many black bears... and black panthers... has a bluish underhue that makes them look blue under some lighting.

Yeah...good call, actually. I think I familiar with that hue that you're talking about.

[29texan]

The Cowboys colors (as someone has aleady pointed out) were chosen so they could look well on color tv.

But that was back in the 60's and right now in the era of HDTV and 3D, the non-matching blues really don't work all that well. I do feel a change coming soon...

[ColeJ]

i read a book called "oiler blues" a few years back, and they said the oilers colors were chosen because columbia blue was bud's favorite color. and red, because he thought it complemented his favorite color.

then the titans just added navy blue to make it look... modern...

[Jungle Jim]

Buffalo - I know they had been blue & silver, just like the Lions back in the early 1960s, since Ralph Wilson I believe was part owner of the Lions. I'm assuming he switched to red, white & blue because of it being the "American" Football League, but I'm not sure.

Not sure. But I know they switched to red helmets in the 70s to see them better through the snow.

Not true. They switched to red because their three division rivals at the time all wore white helmets. Here's the story...

http://www.buffalobi...4a-2bb56169e127

[njmeadowlanders]

New York Jets - Green & white. I know at one time Mr. Hess owned the Jets, and Hess Gasoline is associated with the color green.

Any feedback would be appreciated, especially the Jets & Eagles...why green??

Don't know about the Eagles, but you answered your question for the Jets right there.

[SilverEagle5]

The Eagles original colors were blue and yellow. Those are also the city's flag's colors. I always just figured they mixed them together and got green. No idea if that's actually the case, though.

[PurpleRush]

Buffalo - I know they had been blue & silver, just like the Lions back in the early 1960s, since Ralph Wilson I believe was part owner of the Lions. I'm assuming he switched to red, white & blue because of it being the "American" Football League, but I'm not sure.

Not sure. But I know they switched to red helmets in the 70s to see them better through the snow.

Not true. They switched to red because their three division rivals at the time all wore white helmets. Here's the story...

http://www.buffalobi...4a-2bb56169e127

I was pretty sure it happened in the 80's.

Glad to see the story confirms my memory of it.

[Jungle Jim]

The red Bills helmets never did look right, IMO. The buffalo pops off the white helmet so much better.

[jakemon08]

I think you are looking too far into some of these. sure, some colors were chosen for a reason. several of them, though, I'm sure were chosen simply because they look good.

[Bravo96]

It's not Tar Heel blue....

Carolina blue is more this shade while Panther's "electric blue" is more this shade...

[Pizzaman7294]

It's not Tar Heel blue....

Carolina blue is more this shade while Panther's "electric blue" is more this shade...

yeah but thats still why they picked a lighter shade of blue

[WSU151]

It's not Tar Heel blue....

Carolina blue is more this shade while Panther's "electric blue" is more this shade...

Judging by your signature, Panthers blue is nothing close to that shade.

yeah but thats still why they picked a lighter shade of blue

No it's not.

[Kevin W.]

Buffalo - I know they had been blue & silver, just like the Lions back in the early 1960s, since Ralph Wilson I believe was part owner of the Lions. I'm assuming he switched to red, white & blue because of it being the "American" Football League, but I'm not sure.

Not sure. But I know they switched to red helmets in the 70s to see them better through the snow.

Not true. They switched to red because their three division rivals at the time all wore white helmets. Here's the story...

http://www.buffalobi...4a-2bb56169e127

Well, three of their four since the Jets had switched to green helmets a few years before.

[andrewharrington]

The Broncos have never had sky blue helmets or sky blue in their colors, it was always a shade of royal blue.

The orange & blue was chosen by the fans after the 1961 season when the owners burned the ugly brown and yellow uniforms. They had an open vote at the stadium for new colors and the fans chose the orange & blue uniforms.

It's been pretty bright at times. Not a stretch to describe it as sky blue. Some skies are very blue, especially out west.

[TruColor]

It's not Tar Heel blue....

Carolina blue is more this shade while Panther's "electric blue" is more this shade...

Judging by your signature, Panthers blue is nothing close to that shade.

yeah but thats still why they picked a lighter shade of blue

No it's not.

I swear this is the 43rd time I've done this...:

<--->

[darkhaha]

The Broncos have never had sky blue helmets or sky blue in their colors, it was always a shade of royal blue.

The orange & blue was chosen by the fans after the 1961 season when the owners burned the ugly brown and yellow uniforms. They had an open vote at the stadium for new colors and the fans chose the orange & blue uniforms.

ADW77, just wondering what your source is about a fan contest to choose the orange and blue? According to Endzone Sports Charities (ESC):

The first original uniform designed specifically for the team was the creation of Bob Bowie of The Denver Post. Additionally, Bowie is credited with design of the Broncos' 1962 logo as well as having provided numerous game program cover illustrations during the teams' early years. According to Coach Jack Faulkner, Bowie's involvement was solicited in an attempt to gain the press' interest and attention in the team.

Faulkner also noted that the color selection for the uniform style was somewhat of an accident. A student of Paul Brown and a fan of the Cleveland Browns, Faulkner intended the jerseys to be "Texas Orange" a brownish color which, according to Brown, made the ball difficult to spot against the similar colored field of the ball carrier's jersey. An undetermined mix-up somewhere in the order fulfillment process resulted in delivery of Wilson jerseys that were the much brighter "Tennessee Orange".

ESC is not 100% accurate, but they are right about a lot of stuff. I've never before heard anything about an "open vote" of fans to choose the new colors, but I would be interested to hear more about it if you have more info on this topic...