After a smaller, and slightly controversial, debut of only eight teams last year, Nike’s Color Rush 2016 has taken over all 32 NFL teams.
Continuing the traditions of last year, during Thursday night games, teams will wear their Color Rush uniforms. The Color Rush games have been given the tag “Light Up Thursday Night Football.”
Last year’s controversy came when the New York Jets and The Buffalo Bills played against each other. The Jets made their debut in all green uniforms while the Bills were in all red. So for fans that are red/green colorblind, this game was almost impossible to watch or to distinguish between the two teams.
After this issue was brought to their attention, the NFL has decided that this season the Jets will be facing the Bills in all white and the Bills will keep their red uniforms.
Now, fans may be wondering why the NFL is doing this. Well, it’s to raise money for NFL Foundation.
This money will go to helping fund youth wellness programs. The NFL Foundation is a non-profit organization, representing all 32 teams, which uses its funds to support athletes, communities, and youth football leagues.
It is said that the first $500,000 raised off of Color Rush merchandise will be donated to help replace youth and high school football equipment and fields that were lost during the floods in Louisiana earlier this year.
The NFL, along with the individual teams, have tweeted pictures of this year’s uniforms. The uniforms for the Color Rush games are unique because the entire uniform is one color. Each team received new uniforms made in one of the teams’ traditional colors.
The Nike Vapor Untouchable Uniforms, which will dress the each player head to toe, drew inspiration from current and past uniform schemes. Some teams’ colors will change depending on the game and their opponent, so that the two teams can be individually identified.