Football teams in the UK are naturally identified on the field of play by their uniform, or strip.
The rise and rise of merchandising in the game has resulted in clubs changing their strips regularly, in order to sell more replica shirts to a long-suffering public.
This policy mainly affects parents, with children who want the latest versions of their team’s shirt in order to keep up with their friends.
Does this practice occur in any US sport, say baseball or American football? Just curious.
The selling of replica jerseys and other sports-related merchandise is big business here in the U.S.
A number of professional sports teams have changed their uniform designs in recent years. While teams typically have two variations of their uniform (one for home games, another for away games), some teams go further and have multiple alternate versions of home or away uniform designs. The Arizona Diamondbacks strike me as one of the worst offenders in this regard…they seem to have way too many alternate designs.
The Seattle Mariners, the baseball team that I pay the closest attention too, also has too many alternate uniform designs for my taste.
Please, just stick with home and away designs and be happy with that.
One justification of all these alternate designs is because different people like different designs. Have enough variations, and you’ll make a fortune.
So, yes, it does happen here in the U.S., although there are a number of teams that haven’t changed their uniform design in eons, if at all. The Dallas Cowboys, the New York Yankees, the Boston Celtics, and the Green Bay Packers are all examples of teams whose uniform designs and colors have been the same (with relatively minor changes) for decades.
Of course there have been cases where a change in uniform design was definitely necessary. Some pro teams have had hideous uniform designs. The old Tampa Bay Buccaneers uniform color scheme of creamsicle orange made the team look like a row of traffic cones whenever it was time for the kickoff.
Football, hockey jerseys and baseball uniforms do change periodically… not that often really… kids might want the new uniforms instead of the old ones but I don’t think it’s done to increase merchandising… they seem to be making enough money without having to resort to that…
Lest we forget the travesty of “throwback” uniforms… this was popular a couple of years ago (in both football and baseball, I believe). The teams would play a game or two in uniforms from years past – sometimes hideously ugly ones – and of course they would be for sale, offering yet more chances for the gullible public to part with their money.
Some teams have “third jerseys” (some even have “fourth jerseys”). These can be used for either home or away games and have the sole intent of increasing merchandising sales. They work, I remember the New York Rangers third jersey was very popular when the team was good. And wow, was that a long time ago.
Actually, I like the “throwback” uniforms. Not colorful, but nice to see (as long as they’re done right – when the NY Jets did them, they got the helmets wrong). I’d certainly be more interested in one of them than many of the newer ones.
The champions of multiple uniforms were the Pittsburgh Pirates for a few years in the 70s. They had multiple shirts, pants, and hats and wore a different combination each day.