Notre Dame made the news twice on Monday. They started the day off by releasing their new green jerseys that the Irish will wear for the Ohio State game on September 24. The jerseys were met with widespread approval throughout the fan base. Notre Dame ended the night in the news again with reports surfacing that they were re-upping with Under Armour for another 10-year deal. News that was not nearly as well received. Let’s start with what landed well with the fan base, though. The green jerseys.
Here is a look at the jerseys as posted by the Fighting Irish Twitter account.
Unlike past green jerseys, this rendition features white numbers as opposed to blue with gold trim. Otherwise, they’re somewhat similar to past versions. where the uniform strays from the more “traditional” greens is in the pants. Notre Dame will wear green pants along with the green jersey for just the second time – the first being the “Green Monster” uniforms they wore in Fenway in 2015.
While some fans were not too keen on the green-on-green look, overall, the sentiment was that Notre Dame did a good job with these, and I agree. It’s a unique and clean look for the Irish. Would more traditional gold pants have looked better? Perhaps, but these do not look bad at all as some past uniform variants from Under Armour have.
A lot of fans were not big on the blue numbers and details on the green jerseys the Irish had worn in recent years – most recently for last year’s “Green Out” against Cal. Personally, I kinda liked the blue/green combo though I get why some did not. The combo also made it a lot harder to make out numbers from far away for those in attendance in the stands, too, so I get it. That is not a problem with these jerseys.
Notre Dame media did a great job with the release of these jerseys too. A year after their Hangover parody video got them a lot of praise, they did a parody of Jerry Maguire featuring running back Audric Estime and Sam Hartam.
Jerseys Not Available for Purchase Yet is a Big Miss
The jersey release video and teasers that were produced were great from the media department, but having these come out on Monday morning without the jerseys being available for purchase as of late Monday night still is a huge miss commercially.
Fans would have bought a ton of these today – and probably still will whenever they’re eventually released – but making a big deal of the release and not selling them is peculiar. My beloved Philadelphia Eagles released their own kelly green jerseys today as well. Fans lined up and tailgated outside the Pro Shop at Lincoln Financial Field at 3:30 AM this morning. They sold out in-store and online today. Notre Dame fans, meanwhile, are left wondering when the jerseys will be available to purchase online or in the bookstore.
Some might try to argue that they’re building demand, but the demand is already there, and the time to capture it best would have been right at the same time as they were released.
Selling costumes is a funny business….screwing it up is more damagaing than getting it right is profitable.
Give up this horrifying Taylor Swift girlyman nonsense. Stop it.
Wear the uniform.. Recognizable, easy to stock, no timely social messaging or translation required.