Field, Court Or Runway? Sports Uniform Fashion Has Gone Too Far

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The old (and offensive) joke about women sports fans is they pick their teams based on the colors or the mascot. From my experience, men  – with all their talk about stats, play breakdowns or game perspective – care far more about the look or the “fashion” of the team.

Sports is a male-dominated industry, though that is changing, so I find it comical that the same people who protect their masculinity so carefully get so heated about the fashion statement their team makes with their uniform.

BYU fans argue about Royal or Blue while one of the most anticipated announcements for Utah fans is the hand-painted helmets.

What about Jazz fans? They go berserk when the team announces the special edition jerseys. Each version even has its own name – City Edition (yellow & orange), Classic Edition (throwback purple), Statement (yellow), Earned (gold for Christmas), Icon (blue) and Association (white).

1997 🔁 2019#MountainTime
» https://t.co/CyruuyacDM pic.twitter.com/8n3jto5saz

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) August 28, 2019

How do fans even keep it all straight?

I spend less time thinking about what I wear over the course of an entire year than many Jazz fans think about what the team is wearing.

Is this a basketball court or a runway?

Sports fans have become fashion critics who obsess, talk and tweet about the uniforms their teams are wearing.

Utah Unveils ‘State Pride’ Helmet

The Utah Football team equipment account unveiled a new helmet Tuesday night. They’ll don the caps against Idaho State Saturday. Twitter exploded with some positive, but also many negative opinions.

Ute fans, is it really worth your time to dog the uniform on Twitter?

As I dug into the tweets about the new helmets (and I don’t recommend ever digging too deep into Twitter), most of the commenters frankly didn’t seem to have much fashion sense of their own. Sorry guys. Khaki shorts, Oakley gas-can sunglasses and bright white New Balance sneakers aren’t exactly trendy, unless you’re my 13-year-old sister or one of her middle school friends who proudly rock the chunky, white sneakers – but that’s a different story.

Former Ute punter Tom Hackett said it best.

“Funny how grown a** men, whose wife/mother/guardian buys clothes for them have such strong fashion opinions,” he tweeted.

Funny how grown ass men, whose wife/mother/guardian buys their clothes for them, have such strong fashion opinions when it comes to their favorite sports teams.

Just show up to the game in your white new balances, khaki pants and polo that doesn’t match.
Sweet beard of Zeus. https://t.co/78k4Y72Pho

— Tom Hackett (@TomCantHackett) September 11, 2019

Utah Football equipment will soon unveil this season’s hand-painted helmets. I’ll try to stay off Twitter and keep my headphones in that day.

😍😍😍 pic.twitter.com/exEBI35ALP

— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) November 8, 2018

BYU Royal vs Navy

Cougar faithful have spent years arguing about the shade of blue  – royal blue or navy blue – that fans and the team should wear.

It’s not only the fans on this one, former Cougar defensive end Jason Buck often gripes that the school should “go back to royal blue only.”

byu's bib uniforms should be on the list. pic.twitter.com/qh3oaNBXj8

— riboflavin (@riboflavinLLC) June 12, 2018

Some Cougar fans may hate me for bringing this up, but who could forget the infamous “bib” uniforms from 1999. These two-tone gold and navy uniforms came from a Nike rebrand and only lasted one season after an outcry from fans.

Utes going with the red-tailed hawk helmets today. Anything with tan in their colors reminds me of the ill-fated BYU bib uniforms. I say avoid tan in almost any uniform situation. pic.twitter.com/9kUyL3OdWr

— Brad Rock (@therockmonster) November 17, 2018

Fans were so blown away by these uniforms I was able to find plenty of conversation about them on Twitter and Twitter wasn’t even created until seven years after the Cougs wore the bibs.

All Black Everything

Every year fans get amped up for Utah Football’s blackout game. For the annual event fans and the team wear all black. I remember this being the most talked about and anticipated game of the year among my fellow MUSS (Mighty Utah Student Section) members.

Schools across the nation have similar traditions. This year Utah State is joining the blackout party. The team announced via Twitter the theme for their game against BYU is blackout.

⚫️⚫️⚫️ 🔜 11.2.19

🎟➡️ https://t.co/ZXS1P1VKc8 #AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/F6Lksr64X9

— USU Football (@USUFootball) September 13, 2019

While BYU usually has a whiteout game, fans have pined for a blackout game. They got a taste of the blackout tradition when the team wore all-black uniforms in 2012 and 2014. Per usual, sports Twitter had plenty to say.

BYU blackout helmets for tonight's game. Slight changes from previous years and looking sharper than ever. @PhilHecken @BYUfootball @byuROC pic.twitter.com/4jP6LZOtUY

— Jake Rasmussen (@cj_ras) November 26, 2016

“@UniWatch: BYU wearing solid-black on Oct. 13. Lame-o. pic.twitter.com/aQDlJUAP” bad uniform idea of the goes to all black BYU

— Charles Sollars (@CharlesSollars) October 1, 2012

Real Salt Lake Parley Jerseys

It’s not just football and basketball, soccer fans get opinionated about jersey color and style as well. Real Salt Lake Fans will remember when the club wore powder blue jerseys last season.

Do you remember the purpose of these jerseys? I would venture a guess people were more concerned with what the jerseys looked like rather than what they stood for.

The blue jerseys were formally named the “Parley Jerseys.” They were made of recycled plastic that was discarded into the ocean. On each uniform was the message “For the Oceans” on the inside of the collar.

Toothpaste FC

— Jo (@JOttilo) April 19, 2019

‘We Like Our Swag’

When teams unveil new uniforms or even just components of uniforms it is immediately a hot topic on our website and an even bigger conversation among my co-workers. New gear is usually my cue to put my headphones in and bury myself in work.

“We like our swag,” says Mitch Harper, KSL Sports’ BYU insider and host of the Cougar Tracks podcast.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my teams – but I’m much more concerned with how they put up a win than how they look while doing it.