New Old Looks

Earlier this week, three NFL teams--the Jets, Broncos and Lions--unveiled new uniforms for the 2024 season.  All three of them had some variation of a throwback.  The Lions went away from the "modern" font on their jerseys in favor of a more traditional look, while the Broncos did something similar with their jerseys and also brought back their "D" helmets as an alternate look.  The Jets, meanwhile, took their 1980s New York Sack Exchange throwback from last season and made it their primary logo and uniform moving forward.

More and more teams are introducing a throwback look as an alternate uniform, and fans often like the throwback better than their current uniform/logo.  And some of them, like the Jets, realize the fans are right and go back to it permanently.  They're just the latest example of a team realizing that their classic logo is classic for a reason and didn't actually need modernizing after all.

While we've only seen one other football team (the Giants) completely go back to a throwback logo as their primary full-time (the Rams did it when they moved back to LA, but that was only temporary), this is actually the second time the Jets have done it.  When Bill Parcells arrived as head coach, they adopted a modernized version of their uniforms from the 60s (when they won the Super Bowl).  Now they're going back to the 80s.

Despite the popularity of the throwback looks, no other team has brought theirs back full-time, even though some of them probably should.  In recent years, we've seen Pat the Patriot and Buccaneer Bruce return, as well as the Seahawks' blue jerseys and silver helmets.  The Atlanta Falcons' black jersey/red helmet combo has also made a comeback, along with a 1972 Dolphins throwback and the Eagles' amazing Kelly green.  But, so far, it's just the Jets (and Giants) who've made it permanent.

In the NHL, NBA and MLB, though, we've seen plenty of throwback uniforms make permanent returns.  It seems to be especially prominent in the NHL, where teams introduce throwbacks as a third jersey, only to promote them to the regular uniform because of how much fans love them.  The NHL, in fact, embraces the throwback theme so much that they've built one of their signature events--the Winter Classic--around it.

Ever since the first Winter Classic, the participating teams have worn some variation of a throwback uniform.  Some have directly taken their historical logo and jersey, while others have adapted either their own or another franchise from their city's hockey history.  They even had throwback sweaters for this year's Winter Classic between the Golden Knights (founded in 2017) and the Kraken (founded in 2022).

The Sabres wore their original uniforms in the first Winter Classic.  Shortly thereafter, it was brought back as their primary logo and uniform.  The Islanders had a disastrous attempt at a rebrand that saw their original logo resurrected after just a few years.  The Penguins actually had a decent new logo when they changed it in the 90s, but they still went back to the skating penguin in front of a triangle from their Lemieux-Jagr Stanley Cup years.  After changing their logo when they moved to Glendale, the Coyotes went back to their original Phoenix logo during their final years in the Desert.

Washington is another team that made a logo and color change that wasn't well-received, so the Capitals created a modernized version of their old-school logo (complete with an excellent eagle shoulder logo).  Ditto with the the Ottawa Senators, who modernized the senator in their logo before reverting back to the original.  The Maple Leafs, meanwhile, updated their logo again a few years ago, with the inspiration drawn from their logo in the 60s.

Teams don't even need to have the same name or be in the same place to embrace their history.  The Titans' Oilers throwbacks from last season were amazing!  So were the Avalanche's "reverse retro" jerseys with the Nordiques logo in Avalanche colors, and the Hurricanes' version with the Whalers' logo and colors.  I'm still waiting for the Nationals to rock the Expos' logo.  (Or, even better, for Montreal to get an expansion team when MLB goes to 32 after the A's relocation to Las Vegas is complete.)

What I really love about what the baseball teams have done is how they've taken their beloved, historic logo and modernized it.  Take the Blue Jays, who have some of the nicest uniforms in baseball.  After so many logo changes, they went back to the original and hit a home run.  Same with the Orioles going back to the cartoon bird on the hat.  And the Brewers, who returned to the ball-in-glove, one of the greatest logos ever designed.  (The Phillies have their equally amazing powder blues with the maroon "P" with a baseball in the middle as an alternate uniform.)

There are a number of baseball teams, in fact, that returned to throwback uniforms before that was even a thing.  The Phillies, Giants and White Sox all based their current primary uniforms off of a uniform set from their history.  And it was a glorious day when the Padres went back to the brown & gold, a color scheme that has only ever worked on them!

Over in the NBA, it gets somewhat confusing because every team has like five different uniforms, and many of those have a throwback as one of the options.  And no NBA team has really brought back its classic, throwback look as a regular option.  Two have gone back to a historic logo, though, even if it's with modern uniforms.  The 76ers went through a bunch of different logos before returning to the 13 stars from the original U.S. flag on top of the 7 in their name.  The Hawks, meanwhile, went back to their circular hawk head logo from the 80s (now if they would only bring back the outstanding uniforms that went with them back then).

That seems to be the more common tactic in the NBA.  Not going all the way back to an old logo and uniform, but going back to the old logo and updating the uniform.  That's what the Utah Jazz did with their music note logo and what the Detroit Pistons did when they went back to the basics.

With the popularity of retro logos and uniforms, I'm sure we'll see more return in the future.  It's really more a question of who will be next and which era they'll return to.  And if they'll go all the way back, giving their fans memories of yesteryear, or if they'll put a modern spin on it.  Either way, it's bound to look pretty good!