Earlier this week, the Denver Broncos unveiled their new white alternate helmet. They will soon have new primary uniforms as well.
At a Wednesday press conference, team president Damani Leech was asked about a recent fan survey regarding new uniforms. He replied:
“We had over 10,000 responses to that survey, which right away showed how much passion and interest there was broadly in the thought of our uniforms. Fans certainly will tag me on social media, and I was pleased. I try to avoid reading the comments sometimes, but I was pleased after yesterday’s rollout [of the white helmet]. You saw a lot of people excited, excited about the [logo], and excited for something new. I think that there is a lot of interest and energy around something new and we will continue to work on it.
[…]
“We are definitely working on it. When fans should expect it is still TBD. For those who know, it’s quite a lengthy process, both with the league and with Nike. Carrie [Walton Penner, part of the team’s new ownership group] has been great in this. She led a team of us, and we went up to Beaverton [the location of Nike HQ] this past spring and spent a day with the Nike folks, talking about concepts, helping them understand what it means to be a Bronco and what we think about our community. We are still working on it and when we are ready to share something, we will certainly be sharing it.”
This isn’t the first time Leech has discussed the possibility of new uniforms. When he signed on as team president last September, he said he was “looking at” the team’s uniform situation. A few months later, in January of this year, he responded to a fan’s uni-related tweet by saying the team was “working on it”:
Working on it Kenny!
— Damani Leech (@dleech9) January 9, 2023
But this week’s comments were Leech’s most expansive thoughts on the topic so far, and the first confirmation that the team has been working with Nike on a new look. It sounds like Leech isn’t yet ready to say whether the new set will be ready for next year.
The Broncos’ current set, which was revolutionary and even radical when it was introduced in 1997, now feels badly dated. I recently did a deep dive on that uniform set, which you can see here.
It makes me feel so old. When those uniforms came out I was in the fifth grade and they were so cool. Now they’re so, so dated and lame. Can’t believe they’ve lasted this long TBH.
To be fair, those uniforms looked dated about 2 years after they were introduced…
I struggle not to be classist, but, between fan surveys to determine “how much passion and interest there was broadly in the thought of our uniforms”, and “Carrie led a team of us, and we went up to Beaverton and spent a day talking about concepts, helping them understand what it means to be a Bronco.” I just can’t help but roll my eyes. The older I get, the less tolerance I have for oblivious corporate jargon. And, ultimately, even given a history of great uniform elements, they’ll probably design something god-awful that fans hate, but Nike says screen-tested well. “It’s forward-thinking and represents the aerodynamics of our hard-working city…”
Haha! Could not agree more. It’s unbelievable how every time these teams say that they worked closely with Nike on something innovative and fresh while staying true to their history, the result is garbage. Jaguars, Rams, Falcons…too many to count, really.
What I always wonder is who is making the decisions. Obviously the team has the final say, but Nike is Nike for a reason. They have some of the best designers in the world. I’d love to see what those designers would come up with if the team stayed completely out of it. Maybe just a directive of: “We need something new, but our historical uniforms are not broken.”
THIS!!!
If Nike designs the uniform, trust me, it will be tacky. Nike has no interest in tradition. And you’re right, Nike will back up their design with a essay on how bold and conceptual the new uniform will be, and how it “reflects the passion of working class fans…”
Complete BS, of course, but that’s Nike.
Nike designers are fashion designers with no deep interest in team sports, That is what I think. And since most NFL owners are out of touch with the younger demographic they rely on Nike to tell them what is happening with the younger set of fans. Only when a team more or less dictates what it wants (as in throwback uniforms) Nike agrees as they can imagine the big merch numbers as much as the team does.
Nike has nothing to do with that process….. it’s the team and the NFL. Literally was stated in the post…
You don’t get it, respectfully.
I still struggle with why these processes ‘take so long’ for some sports but others churn out new uniforms regularly (NBA, FIFA). I get there is a merchandising and sales aspect for the NFL but can’t understand why they self impose a five year rule on material uniform changes, alternates, etc. Seems like there would be big business in regularly switching out an alternative or even primary for teams without a dead-set, uniform combination. Appreciate an education if someone knows why.
The NFL is the last big sports league that (pretty sure all of us here would say rightfully so) highly values its brand. No ads on uniforms, no wacky alternates of the week. The 5 year rule change is about consistency. They want you to turn on the TV and immediately know what teams are playing and which team is which. While I’ve become disenchanted with the NFL over the years, this is highly respectable IMO.
Part of it I assume has to do with the much shorter season in comparison to the rest of sports. Having more than 3 or 4 gimmick jersey games is going to affect the identity of a team in a way that a 30 isn’t in baseball or basketball.
I can’t look forward to what the new designs will look like anymore, I’m just so jaded by the last few years of design reveals (of course not counting the retro based designs). It’s still fun and exciting to hear a new design is on the way but it’s more like I can’t wait to see the nonsense they come up with. Kinda sad really.
The Broncos’ classic look is one of the few from my childhood that I like less than the current look. I never cared for that blue, which was midway between Powder and Royal and always looked washed out to me. The current helmet is nearly perfect—the white horse with contrasting mane positively pops off that blue, and is arched almost identically to the curve of the helmet. And while Navy is overused in all sports, this is the proper shade and usage. The problem is the Nike elements on the jersey and pants; simplify those, stick with orange/white at home and white/blue on the road and call it a day. If the league allows it, I’d swap out the Bucking Bronco from the 60’s, the Snorting D from the 70’s and the Charging Horse from the 90’s on the helmet during the season. But please don’t let the Nike-NFL complex overthink it.
Sounds like you don’t like the current uniform design, you like the logo and the color navy. If i was a Bronco fan (which good lord I couldn’t be less of), I could live with the color navy and the logo. The problem is and always has been the weird stripes, those would’ve been “cool” for like a week in the ’90’s. Now they just look dated, even the number font I might accept, though I’m not a fan of custom number font.
Forgot to say: the “Nike-NFL complex” WILL overthink it, no chance they don’t. Prepare for the worst and hope for acceptable.
One mark of a good logo is how easy it is to draw. Speaking from experience of drawing all NFL logos multiple times on school folders (mid 90s), by far the worst to draw were the Bucs, the Patriots and the Broncos. All got much needed upgrades within a few years. (shame they all had to completely change colours as well, which the Broncos at least rectified). The 3 replacement logos all feel a bit 90s now, and its fun to see Bucco Bruce and Pat Patriot back in small doses. But there is a reason those logos were replaced: the current trend for nostalgia doesn’t change the fact they were awful.
Please Broncos – change the uni, but don’t bring back the stupid “D” logo full time.
Drop mic!
By complexity, the Redskins, Vikings and Dolphins were far more intricate than the Broncos back then. And if you did the Bears’ head instead of the wishbone C, that one was also tough to draw.
Bring back the vertical stripe socks!
Like the old logo for throw back games but current horse needs to stay! Orange pant’s definitely out, this isn’t the 70’s Broncos!
Bring back the 80s and update it but don’t go crazy and we are good.
The current set completely changed the game as a bunch of teams added piping to the jerseys and got funky with their pants. I remember even the Jaguars added piping to their jerseys for a season or two. The league went nuts, look at what the Bills and Vikings decided to do. Of course around the same time the Jets and Giants both went to their throwback looks. It is absolutely on point to call the Broncos jersey introduced in 1997 revolutionary. It trickled down to the college game too.
Uniforms around the league became downright awful when Nike became the NFL uniform supplier and designer.
Uniforms were already brutal under Reebok. You could argue they became even worse under Nike, but that’s a low bar to clear.
As much as I do not like most Nike uniforms of the last 10 years I have to agree. Reebok was already crazy about horrible piping on almost every uniform they could get their hands on.