Doesn't this just look good?
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – Orange is the Broncos’ identity.
They’re not colloquially called “the Blue and Orange,” but “the Orange and Blue.” Charlie Goldberg’s still-celebrated unofficial holiday is not “Blue Sunday,” it’s “Orange Sunday.” Orange jerseys and T-shirts are more popular than the blue ones; just take a look around the Invesco Field stands on a warm, shirt-sleeve weather Sunday. When I grew up 2,000 miles from Denver and thought of the Broncos, I thought of John Elway first and orange second.
Further, orange is what makes the Broncos unique in the NFL. No other team has it as their primary color; the Dolphins, Bengals, Browns, Bears and Buccaneers all use it, but as a secondary color (with the Bucs, Bengals and Browns also brandishing orange third jerseys this year).
Meanwhile, the Broncos are one of an ocean of teams whose primary color is blue. Thirteen wear blue; nine, including the Broncos, wear navy blue or something close to it.
For six home games a year, the Broncos are one of many.
It’s time to make them a one and only once again.
It’s time to make orange the primary color of the Broncos’ uniform.
THE DECISION BELONGS TO OWNER PAT BOWLEN, as Broncos coach Josh McDaniels reminded media at midday Monday. But in his two years at the team’s head coach, he’s become an enthusiastic supporter of the orange look.
“I love the orange jerseys,” McDaniels said.
Over the last several years, orange hasn’t have a magical effect on the team. Since the third jerseys were introduced in 2002, the Broncos are just 4-4 in them.
Denver lost its first two orange alternate-jersey games in bitter, eerily similar fashion — at home, on Sunday Night Football, in the snow, on last-second or overtime field-goal attempts that didn’t go the Broncos’ way. Therefore Mike Shanahan, who has a superstitious streak, shuffled them to sartorial purgatory, making the blue jerseys/blue pants look the signature of special games.
But the Broncos continued to sell orange jerseys, and fans continued to buy them. In 2008, they were restored to the team’s ensemble, with the Broncos wearing them the maximum two times allowed in the regular season, against the Saints and Chiefs. They won both games and are 4-2 the last three seasons in orange, which compares favorably to their 6-9 record in blue jerseys at Invesco Field in that same time frame.
The increased fan enthusiasm at home games with orange is palpable. And, yes, the team’s two best all-around efforts this year have come in orange.
“I’d love to wear the orange (as the primary jersey). I wouldn’t mind it at all,” McDaniels said. “We kind of get excited. Everything from when you walk in the locker room, it looks different when you’ve got the orange jerseys. It wouldn’t bother me at all.”
DENVER’S MOVE TO NAVY BLUE IN 1997 was part of a dozen-year trend where the league’s color schemes became darker and more dull, with unique looks vanishing or becoming mangled in the process.
In St. Louis, the blinding yellow pants and horns on the Rams’ jerseys and helmets were replaced by a dull gold; the bright royal blue was toned down to a muted navy. In Tennessee, the Titans became the Oilers and exchanged Columbia blue for navy. The Eagles toned down their bold, bright kelly green, going with a darker forest green and adding black, as was the style in the 1990′s. The Falcons, guided by Jerry Glanville, exchanged red jerseys for black ones. In 2002, the Bills made alterations that are euphemistically described as “misguided,” exchanging the familiar royal blue and red for a scheme that incorporated navy blue, royal blue, nickel, red and a weird bib-like navy blue patch on the shoulders that a World League team would have been ashamed to have. And let’s not get into how the Bengals took a clean, unique tiger-stripe look designed by Paul Brown and tinkered with it, thus destroying it.
But there’s been a recent philosophical change throughout the league. In 2009, the Rams dusted off their royal-blue-and-canary look for two home games. The Bucs, after years of stern resistance, brought back “Bucco Bruce” and the creamsicle orange with red trim for one game a year. The Chargers added powder blue trim, introduced powder blue alternate jerseys and returned to the white helmets made famous by John Hadl, Lance “Bambi” Alworth and other stars of the Sid Gillman era. The Lions tossed their black alternate jerseys into the garbage.
And in what is probably the most applicable example for the Broncos, the Titans and Falcons both discovered that their fans adored the alternate jerseys in their old primary colors — but in new, modern styles.
Now, the Falcons wear red at home, just as they did in the 1970′s and 1980′s. The Titans wear Columbia blue, just like they did in their first 39 years of operation as the Oilers. They bowed to their heritage and identity. So must the Broncos.
It’s time to restore orange to its proper place in Broncodom. It’s time to make the third jersey the primary one.
I agree wholeheartedly, Andrew. I would take it a step further, however. It is time for the Denver Broncos to ditch the late 90s uniform, logo, and script design completely. It’s time for a new logo, new script, and new uniforms. Make orange the home jersey color, and go with a classic, clean, simple uniform design.
Furthermore, get rid of the navy. As you mentioned, too many teams use navy. If navy is to be used going forward, make it an outlining color at most. I would love, love, love for the Broncos to bring back the pre-1997 uniforms or a close variation of them. ¡Viva la revolución de uniformes nuevos!
During the 1996 season, I had a feeling navy blue was coming to the Broncos. Look back at the type of gear Mike Shanahan the coaches wore that year:
http://bit.ly/br4kMW
I’m a big fan of the old uniforms, but not the old logo. The horse’s legs are like toothpicks and I used to think the horse was shooting forward some kind of laser (only after I was 13 did I realize it was the horse’s breath).
I LOVE the old Orange. I would rather not see the old logo though, because I like that it’s a throwback. It can’t be modern and nostalgic at the same time. Though if it DID have laser beams, I might be swayed with that. Much cooler than the “sneezy” visuals.
In addition to the orange, I’d love to see that old blue shade come back as well. The current navy is too dark of blue in my opinion. Get at that old blue and use the dark navy in smaller accents if necessary.
I love the Orange too!
but I like the modern logo and design.
Maybe we could just ditch the navy sides on the orange top?
But look at him! doesnt he look sexy!!
And those jerseys with the link there from 96.. no offense but they look ugly! wheres the orange?
Maybe we could implement a new chant too. thatd be cool. like the soccer teams in england like liverpool. We could have a deep low DENNNNNVVVVERRR repeating chant.
Ok, we all know online petitions normally don’t do squat, but you and @postbroncos got me worked up with all the Orange tweets and this article.
So, I killed a couple hours and here we go: http://www.bringbackbroncosorange.com
I’ve always LOVED the old colors! orange allthe way. i agree that we should stay with the new logo though. except i would like the whole horse on the helmet not just his head. he look AWSOME full size on the side of the helmet. i love the bright royal blue too but i dont know how they would incorperate it.
I love the idea for a modern Orange and Blue makeover. I am not a fan for using navy blue anywhere in a new uniform, I would rather go back to the previous sky blue color. Orange and blue represent the sunrise and sunsets over the rocky mountains, we should keep true to that. Also if a new helmet logo is created, I for one do not want to see a “D” in the logo like in past designs. There are a lot of Bronco fans in Colorado who live outside of Denver. Why does Denver get to have exclusive ownership. I’m not saying that a name change is in place. Although the “Colorado Broncos” does have a nice ring to it!
Hey Andrew what do you think of my conspiracy theory on the whole jersey push?
http://www.itsalloverfatman.com/broncos/entry/a-tidy-push-for-orange
Or do McDaniels and Krieger have a better relationship than we might think?
I know it’s still a drop in the fan bucket, but I am surprised by the number of people that have signed the petition. 2,400 people in the first 24 hours, with 2,200 of them coming over the last 14 or so. It will be interesting to see if the momentum continues tomorrow, or if all the online/forum types have signed and it ends there.
Doug –
Interesting theory, but I don’t think there’s any reason to believe that’s actually the case. For those of us in media who’ve written about this subject, we’ve come to the conclusion from sitting in the press box, hearing from fans and understanding the history of the team. I admit, my perspective also comes from something deeper — an interest that borders on obsession with the aesthetics of sport (uniforms, field paint designs, etc.). Heck, if I had my way, the Broncos would paint the end zones as they did in the 1980′s (with “Denver” and “Broncos” superimposed over orange horizontal lines). I like the diamonds used this year, but the 1980′s design evokes much more Broncos success.
Tned –
Ultimately, this is in Broncos’ fans hands — for those active in on-line communities to tell their friends who aren’t, for the word to spread.
It’s pretty cool to see how word has spread so fast. I was running errands today and heard callers on 850 KOA and the sports-radio stations talking about it. And from working in two NFL organizations, I can tell you — what fans say when they come together as a collective DOES make a difference. The teams do hear you.
am i the only one who likes navy blue? i found it much easier to wear my teams colors once one of the colors went with something besides white. that has to have something to do with it because i live in south florida, and i see navy blue dolphins shirts and hats all the time- their colors are hideous, though. they don’t have much choice.
though i welcomed the switch in the 90′s, my fellow fans have convinced me the time has come to return to primary orange.
but can we do keep the dark blue, please?
Andrew, I was saying something similar on the Broncos Country website a few minutes ago. Ultimately, this is up to Mr. Bowlen, or Ellis or others in the Broncos FO. However, in light of the last couple years of frustration (and beyond that), if this ‘movement’ has legs, it should begin to have an impact on the Broncos thinking, because it is something bringing fans together and positive.
Ultimately, they want to sell jerseys and other merchandise (and a change actually helps re-sell fans) and keep fans from being disenfranchised and not buying merchandise, cancelling seasons tickets, etc. The waiting list is long, but I doubt they completely take the fans for granted.
Ok, I’m still have asleep and rambling, so I’ll end the comment here.
I wrote my letter to the post and Broncos and the bringbackthe orange.com page , have another idea too not sure how it would work though. There are 3 home games left how about a Bring Back The Orange Jerseys petition at Mile High Stadium on game days.
Sure it would take a some doing to put to together but at the end of the season take the petitions to Bronco HQ and drop them off to help the Orange movement.
This article rmeinded me of the first time I saw the Broncos’ “Cyber Pony” uniforms. As a life-long fan, I literally dropped the beer I was holding when I saw an incredulous Elway walk out onto a stage wearing that get-up. Of course one year later I was fully in love with the uniform.
I also think that orange is the way to go. It reminds old school fans like me of the team identity that we grew up with and I think it just looks better. Whenever I play a Broncos home game on Madden, I’m in the orage alt., and whenever I turn on the game and see them dressed in orange, I get pumped up.
I’m not against the blue jersey and would like to see it used sparingly in the future, although I HATE the blue-on-blue look. I would also like to see the Broncos wear the 1980-1996 throwback once a year like the Buccaneers do. That would be pretty cool.
Bob, I think the petitions at the stadium is a great idea. Unfortunatley, I’m an out of towner, so while I can do online stuff, It’s very tough for me to do any on ground organizing.
Also, having never organized a clip-board style petition, I don’t know if that can just be done or if you have to get permits.