New Uniforms…warranted, or a cheap way to get revenue in a recession?

Posted on April 23rd, 2009. Written by Emmett Jones.

Birds do it. Bees do it. Lions and Jaguars do it too.

New uniforms are popping up everywhere, aren’t they?

Not to be out done by the “fiercest” uniforms east of the Mississippi, the Jacksonville Jaguars threw caution (and some glitter) to the wind and created…new uniforms!

The Jaguars’ new uniform design includes a little something for everybody’s tastes, including a new teal-like glitter (Ed. — appeal to everyone’s taste…who likes Glitter covered football uniforms?) to the team’s all-black helmets.

You say you like teal jerseys at home? Well, you’re gonna like ’em eight games a year because team owner Wayne Weaver announced at today’s uniform unveiling that the team will wear teal jerseys and white pants for all home games.

What about the heat? No need to worry because the new fabric will make the uniforms 30 percent lighter and 10 percent cooler.

You liked the black look? Well, it’s back; at least part of it is back. The Jaguars will continue to wear black pants and white jerseys for road games, depending, of course, on the home team’s jersey selection.

And the reason for the new uniforms? Apparently to establish the Jags’ identity (because I always confused the Jags with…maybe the Florida Marlins, if they played football? and wore their alternate jerseys?)

“We should establish a more permanent identity so that when you see us on TV, you know this is who we are,” Weaver said of the thinking that went into the uniform change. Weaver said the team had watered down its image through the years. “We felt we had lost some of our identity. It was time to look back and say who are we? We challenged the staff of the NFL to tweak our uniform so it would stand the test of time.

The helmet glitter is probably the most radical change. The teal color in the jersey remains the same and the white and black pants are altered only in appearance by the addition of S-curve like “stripes” along the sides.

Micron-sized flakes have been added to the helmet to give it a teal reflection when the light hits it a certain way. The sides of the helmet will continue to bear the traditional teal-tongued cat head, which Weaver announced will serve as the team’s main logo identity. Gone are the crawling cat and other such manifestations of cat head evolution.

Um…glitter.  To review, the Jags had their uniforms re-done because they needed to establish a “permanent identity”, and the big change that they used to establish that identity? Glitter.  Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems like the Jaguars may be trying to insult their fans intelligence.  Everyone knows that new uniforms will force all of the die-hard Jags fans to buy the new paraphernalia, bringing in what I assume will be a larger than expected revenue stream from Jags’ merchandise.  And what better time to release the new uniforms than right before the draft?  Excitement exists for every team at this point (obviously, if the Lions fans are excited) and team support is probably at its highest unless a team is in the playoffs.  And lets not forget the current economic situation, which has even affected football.  What better way to buffer some of the revenue lost due to the economy than by providing the fans with new merchandise that they have to buy?

Or maybe the Jags just needed some glitter to establish their identity?  I heard a rumor that the Steelers plan on using a BeDazzler to jazz up their uniforms for the 2010 season.  I’ll keep you posted.

Jaguars.com — Jaguars make identity permanent

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