From OregonLive.com
Review by Alex Boecker in KIN 332
For the 2002-2011 football seasons, Reebok had exclusive manufacturing and marketing rights over all of the NFL’s authentic and replica jerseys, sideline apparel, hats, and onfield footwear. That all changed late in 2011 when the NFL signed a 5 year contract with Nike for jersey manufacturing. This also meant that the new jersey designs wouldn’t be unveiled until April 3rd, 2012 which raised some worry. Recently, Nike had redesigned the Oregon Ducks football jerseys and had made them significantly more flamboyant than that of previous designs. Fans were worried that Nike would take the same approach to the new NFL jerseys making them look foolish. That was not the case thought, and many were quite pleased that Nike took a much more conservative route with the jerseys. Leo Kane, the NFL’s senior vice president of consumer products, said that they are “very happy with the partners we chose” and dismissed the idea that the recent Oregon Ducks design may have caused hesitation when choosing their new partner.
Although the Seattle Seahawks were the only team to receive completely redesigned uniforms, many teams are now boasting performance related improvements in the new uniforms such as lighter fabric and new pads where there were none before. Even though only one team has been wearing a new uniform design, it can be expected that many more will come under this new Nike contract, including the Vikings who are revealing their new uniforms on April 25th of this year. However, the league does set up some stipulations to make sure that teams are not constantly changing uniforms. Not only must the team talk to the NFL before talking to the apparel manufacturer, but they must also wait at least 5 years in between uniform changes.
While uniform changes can be very important to the image of a team, it is important not to overdo it. Fans want their teams to be attractive and have good looking apparel, but if you go over the top, such as the Oregon Ducks, it may turn off fans. Also, changing the image of a team too frequently can lower sales if fans cannot afford to keep purchasing the new apparel. That is why it is important for the marketers to stay ahead of the curve and aim for apparel that is going to be popular now as well as several years down the road.
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