The NFL appears ready to leave monochromatic attire mostly in the past. According to Fox Sports’ Bill Wanger, teams will no longer wear the much-derided “color rush” uniforms on Thursday Night Football this season.
The color rush uniforms made their official debut in 2015 in problematic fashion. A Thursday night matchup between the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills featured green and red uniforms respectively, an unfortunate combination for colorblind fans who could not distinguish between teams. Future color rush games avoided the green-red issue but still introduced gaudy uniforms that drew the ire of many hardcore fans.
For a game package that has frequently garnered criticism from players and viewers alike, the added color rush gimmick only dampened enthusiasm. That could explain why the Thursday Night Football package, acquired by Fox Sports for the 2018 season, will no longer include color rush.
However, that doesn’t mean color rush will disappear completely. NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported the uniforms could remain as a non-Thursday exclusive. That could explain the yellow jersey Green Bay Packers wideout Davante Adams posted on his Instagram account on Tuesday.
The Packers technically participated in color rush during its short run, though in a limited fashion. Rather than an all-green or all-gold uniform, they wore all white instead, using team’s traditional road jersey rather than an alternate. As such, Green Bay opted not to cash in on the additional jersey sales that color rush would have generated.