Why do NFL teams rebrand their uniforms and how does that affect their team identity and fan loyalty?

I wanted to explore this by rebranding my hometown team the Minnesota Vikings. What you saw above is my mock rebrand of the Vikings. This rebrand followed the exact steps and procedures that I found NFL teams and Nike do during a rebranding process.

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Why do teams generally rebrand their uniforms?

Teams often switch uniforms for 2 main reasons. Reason number one: to increase merchandise sales. Salter (2013) states, “Annual merchandise revenue for the NFL, MLB, and NBA is at record levels, with the NFL alone raking in an estimated $9.5 billion.”  And reason number two: to add excitement to the team and to gain more fans. Salter (2013) also states, “Overhauling uniforms as a way to amp up enthusiasm and merchandise sales is an increasingly popular strategy in the pro-sports world.” My rebrand was centered around gaining newer and younger fans while still pleasing the fans that have been around for years. I decided to center my rebrand around gaining new young fans because it is a new generation of Vikings football with a new general manager, head coach, and quarterback. 

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Market Research

No matter the team, no matter the design, all teams follow the same process when redesigning and rebranding their uniforms. They start by doing market research. Market research is covered by all of my citations. NFL teams do a lot of research before putting a product on the field. And by a lot, I mean A LOT. Lukas (2024) and Williams (2021) both stated that the New York Jets 2019 rebrand took roughly 4-5 years. The Broncos recently revamped their threads and consulted over 10,000 fans! DiLalla (2024) states, “More than 10,000 fans were consulted, according to Broncos President Damani Leech, and the majority of fans wanted new uniforms. The Broncos gathered data that showed fans preferred orange as the primary color and that a slight majority preferred the existing logo.” I did market research for my rebrand by searching online. I saw what people had to say about the Vikings uniforms and about what they liked and disliked. I saw many people complaining about the helmet facemask and number font so I knew that those had to change. I also read many people rave about the Vikings current throwback jersey, and about how many want them to be the primary jersey. Many younger fans love the current Winter Warrior Uniform as well. I knew I wanted my rebranded set to take heavy inspiration off of those two uniforms.

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Ideation

Nike (who designs all of the NFL’s uniforms) likes to push teams to think outside the box. They like to tell stories using uniforms and to execute new ideas that challenge brand identity. In Lukas’s interview (2024) , Andrich stated, “we started putting together inspiration stories. Where does this stuff come from? You know, a lot of it came from the team’s city, or athletes, or former athletes, or the team’s history.” For my rebrand, I sketched uniforms that were inspired by the past, but designed for the future. I took heavy inspiration off of iconic and historical Vikings uniforms. I have attached the sketches on this page.

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Testing

Because market research takes too long, it is VERY important for teams to understand the potential positive and negative effects of rebranding. Big changes can also affect fans and their loyalty to the team. My first source covers that heavily as the other ones do as well but not as much. In Lukas (2024), when Andrich is talking about the NFL’s color movement he mentions a meeting he had while pitching a uniform to the New York Giants, “For the Giants, we presented Mr. Mara with a red uniform. He was insulted. He immediately got a stern look on his face and said, ‘Never.’ And I was like, ‘You know, you have a red jersey,’ which they did at the time. So I didn’t think what we showed them was so outrageous.” This shows that just because you like it, that doesn't mean the client will. You can't just roll out NFL uniforms as you need to run it by the client and make changes. I tested my rebranded uniform set and the majority liked what I proposed. I changed a few small things based on feedback. For example, certain shades of colors and small details like that. I also made one huge change. In my original proposed uniform set, I had 2 alternates. Based off user testing, I discovered that my target audience would rather replace an alternate with a throwback. I had my target audience vote on which alternate they'd get rid of, and which throwback they'd want. I have included the alternate uniform which didn't make the cut, and the options for throwback uniforms on this page.

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FINAL

After doing the NFL design process, I hope I have created a set of uniforms that the younger generation of fans would like, and a set that feels timeless and classic for all.