Andy Larsen: The Jazz wanted to cancel the black/yellow/gold but couldn't

[Hearsky]

At this point, if I were Jazz management, I would lean into the ugly uniforms and act like it was intentional. Kind of helps save face. Maybe change the team name to the “Utah Jazz BYU Co-Eds” Really work the ugly angle hard.


Sent from my iPhone using JazzFanz mobile app

 

[slc]

If nobody is buying these jerseys why would Nike not want to change them

 

[LogGrad98]

If nobody is buying these jerseys why would Nike not want to change them

Someone will buy them. Hell some people probably like them. Some idiots will buy multiples. There are all kinds of idiots out there.

 

[Elizah Huge]

Someone will buy them. Hell some people probably like them. Some idiots will buy multiples. There are all kinds of idiots out there.

I will be buying a black one for sure. I am said idiot. I know a few Jazz fans who have legit told me they love them.

 

[infection]

If nobody is buying these jerseys why would Nike not want to change them

Perhaps Nike expressed skepticism and making them honor the contract is a way of being passive aggressive and then leveraging more influence in the future. “Hey, remember that one time you didn’t listen and really ****ed up?”

 

[Nate505]

Jazz fans have terrible fashion taste (just look at an average Viv crowd), so I can s why no one from the Jazz felt the need to ask them. I wouldn't, either.

I mean, fair enough I guess....but if that's your main market, even so you probably should cater to what they want.

 

[rjfan]

Someone will buy them. Hell some people probably like them. Some idiots will buy multiples. There are all kinds of idiots out there.

Maybe that can hold some collectors item value in the future, you know, problably not being around for long due to how bad the reaction gone, not much expectations around the team to win at a point of turning the popularity around pumping up the sales... Maybe It can actually become somewhat a rare item in the future.

I guess that could be the biggest reason for me to consider buying one

 

[YoungJefe]

If nobody is buying these jerseys why would Nike not want to change them

I think it's a 5 year period before you can rebrand again.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Why were you locked into that scheme? Why didn't you write the contract to have an out to get out of something this bad? Why would Nike not want to get out of a contract that looks to be a poor seller that most of the fanbase hates? Why did you make those initial designs without doing intensive focus group testing first? What the ****ing ****?

Because of supply chain and logistics. You can't just go back. There are 30 NBA teams and they are constantly pumping out new jerseys now. They probably make these things way ahead of time and they probably like to have it so they arent all the same color (so teams have to call "dibs" on certain color combos). They probably have the next line of jerseys for the next 3-4 years lined up. Maybe there are mechanisms to get out, but I'm sure they come with fines/fees on top of you just having to sit on a ton of product that you can't sell. Ryan Smith has probably incurred a lot of up front losses with the Jazz and I doubt he wants to add more

Why did they get passed in the first place? Because a new owner took over and he probably liked them. He probably then took them to a bunch of yes men and they agreed with him. Then he signed off on them. He's a billionaire. If Ryan Smith asked me if I thought the things he liked where good things, I'd be like yes sir now please write me a nice consulting check. That's how billionaires have bad ideas, because at a certain point you have so much power/money/influence that everyone around you is going to try to placate you, even if you (say) you dont want that.

Also people forget the storyline about the original gradient jerseys. Remember when the Jazz couldnt even get that jersey produced because the mechanism that are used to create that jersey were more expensive/time costly to produce? If I had to guess, that was probably a big reason the Jazz changed to. We went from one of the more complex jerseys in terms of color to the most basic. There's probably a significant production cost change from the gradients to what was produced for the "rebrand".

 

[infection]

Because of supply chain and logistics. You can't just go back. There are 30 NBA teams and they are constantly pumping out new jerseys now. They probably make these things way ahead of time and they probably like to have it so they arent all the same color (so teams have to call "dibs" on certain color combos). They probably have the next line of jerseys for the next 3-4 years lined up. Maybe there are mechanisms to get out, but I'm sure they come with fines/fees on top of you just having to sit on a ton of product that you can't sell. Ryan Smith has probably incurred a lot of up front losses with the Jazz and I doubt he wants to add more

Why did they get passed in the first place? Because a new owner took over and he probably liked them. He probably then took them to a bunch of yes men and they agreed with him. Then he signed off on them. He's a billionaire. If Ryan Smith asked me if I thought the things he liked where good things, I'd be like yes sir now please write me a nice consulting check. That's how billionaires have bad ideas, because at a certain point you have so much power/money/influence that everyone around you is going to try to placate you, even if you (say) you dont want that.

Also people forget the storyline about the original gradient jerseys. Remember when the Jazz couldnt even get that jersey produced because the mechanism that are used to create that jersey were more expensive/time costly to produce? If I had to guess, that was probably a big reason the Jazz changed to. We went from one of the more complex jerseys in terms of color to the most basic. There's probably a significant production cost change from the gradients to what was produced for the "rebrand".

Hence why I’ve created a countdown to the “these jerseys help combat climate change” angle.

 

[YoungJefe]

Because of supply chain and logistics. You can't just go back. There are 30 NBA teams and they are constantly pumping out new jerseys now. They probably make these things way ahead of time and they probably like to have it so they arent all the same color (so teams have to call "dibs" on certain color combos). They probably have the next line of jerseys for the next 3-4 years lined up. Maybe there are mechanisms to get out, but I'm sure they come with fines/fees on top of you just having to sit on a ton of product that you can't sell. Ryan Smith has probably incurred a lot of up front losses with the Jazz and I doubt he wants to add more

Why did they get passed in the first place? Because a new owner took over and he probably liked them. He probably then took them to a bunch of yes men and they agreed with him. Then he signed off on them. He's a billionaire. If Ryan Smith asked me if I thought the things he liked where good things, I'd be like yes sir now please write me a nice consulting check. That's how billionaires have bad ideas, because at a certain point you have so much power/money/influence that everyone around you is going to try to placate you, even if you (say) you dont want that.

Also people forget the storyline about the original gradient jerseys. Remember when the Jazz couldnt even get that jersey produced because the mechanism that are used to create that jersey were more expensive/time costly to produce? If I had to guess, that was probably a big reason the Jazz changed to. We went from one of the more complex jerseys in terms of color to the most basic. There's probably a significant production cost change from the gradients to what was produced for the "rebrand".

The Jazz Uni tracker kid on Twitter had seen the uniform over a year ago after Ryan invited him out to a playoff game. IIRC it takes like 2 years to get a design approved and then you have to keep it for 5.

 

[cctrackstar]

the only thing i hate looking at them is the yellow trim on the white jersey. other than that i like the colors, and don't mind the simplicity of them. the blocky font is a little bulky, but not bad enough to throw a state wide fit like we are seeing.

 

[Jazzman12]

Something about the rebrand that I found rather stunning: Ask somebody who’s not a Jazz fan what they think and they might actually tell you they like it.

It’s certainly not a universal opinion, but the more I look around, the more I’m seeing opinions that aren’t nearly as harsh as ours.

While it certainly wouldn’t have been the direction I would have went, I’m officially allocating all of my anxiety towards our coaching search and broken roster.

 

[LogGrad98]

Because of supply chain and logistics. You can't just go back. There are 30 NBA teams and they are constantly pumping out new jerseys now. They probably make these things way ahead of time and they probably like to have it so they arent all the same color (so teams have to call "dibs" on certain color combos). They probably have the next line of jerseys for the next 3-4 years lined up. Maybe there are mechanisms to get out, but I'm sure they come with fines/fees on top of you just having to sit on a ton of product that you can't sell. Ryan Smith has probably incurred a lot of up front losses with the Jazz and I doubt he wants to add more

Why did they get passed in the first place? Because a new owner took over and he probably liked them. He probably then took them to a bunch of yes men and they agreed with him. Then he signed off on them. He's a billionaire. If Ryan Smith asked me if I thought the things he liked where good things, I'd be like yes sir now please write me a nice consulting check. That's how billionaires have bad ideas, because at a certain point you have so much power/money/influence that everyone around you is going to try to placate you, even if you (say) you dont want that.

Also people forget the storyline about the original gradient jerseys. Remember when the Jazz couldnt even get that jersey produced because the mechanism that are used to create that jersey were more expensive/time costly to produce? If I had to guess, that was probably a big reason the Jazz changed to. We went from one of the more complex jerseys in terms of color to the most basic. There's probably a significant production cost change from the gradients to what was produced for the "rebrand".

This. Spot-on about the supply chain and development/production cycle. And the inception. New owner has his own look. New stickers on his new toy.

Odds are the new jerseys have been in the works from day 1 of Ryan's takeover of the Jazz. Hell he already had a notebook with dope drawings of new black white and yellow Jazz unis that all his buddies thought were so lit. So as soon as he took the reigns he took that notebook to the uni guys and said "make this, exactly as it is drawn here". And they did. And it sucks.

 

[sahlensguy]

What an abomination.

Black and white. How unimaginatively dull. Sums up Utah culture perfectly. Might as well highlight it with highlighter yellow! Same goes for the font.

But why? Why the need to distance all attachment to every past style? At least we kept the New Orleans' note.

You suck Ryan.

 

[str8line]

Tough to have confidence in ownership when something so simple goes so wrong.

 

[AlaskanAssassin]

Even more than the ugly jerseys, I feel like this move doesn't respect the history of our franchise. If the Lakers, Celtics, Bulls, etc. got new ownership, and the owners changed their jerseys/color scheme to this degree, they would be crucified. We are a franchise with a rich history. We've changed jerseys more than I would have liked the past 10 years or so, but at least each of those changes had some connection to the Jazz history or to Utah. Regardless of if the new jerseys are good or bad (they are bad), they have no connection to the Utah Jazz.

 

[sahlensguy]

Even more than the ugly jerseys, I feel like this move doesn't respect the history of our franchise. If the Lakers, Celtics, Bulls, etc. got new ownership, and the owners changed their jerseys/color scheme to this degree, they would be crucified. We are a franchise with a rich history. We've changed jerseys more than I would have liked the past 10 years or so, but at least each of those changes had some connection to the Jazz history or to Utah. Regardless of if the new jerseys are good or bad (they are bad), they have no connection to the Utah Jazz.

If Ryan does want to move the Jazz, disenfranchising the base is a wise move on his part.

Black and white wouldn't look terrible next to the Raiders' black and silver in Vegas.

 

[YoungJefe]

Something about the rebrand that I found rather stunning: Ask somebody who’s not a Jazz fan what they think and they might actually tell you they like it.

It’s certainly not a universal opinion, but the more I look around, the more I’m seeing opinions that aren’t nearly as harsh as ours.

While it certainly wouldn’t have been the direction I would have went, I’m officially allocating all of my anxiety towards our coaching search and broken roster.

The font on the uniforms is one of the few things visible from space.

 

[Jazzman12]

Even more than the ugly jerseys, I feel like this move doesn't respect the history of our franchise. If the Lakers, Celtics, Bulls, etc. got new ownership, and the owners changed their jerseys/color scheme to this degree, they would be crucified. We are a franchise with a rich history. We've changed jerseys more than I would have liked the past 10 years or so, but at least each of those changes had some connection to the Jazz history or to Utah. Regardless of if the new jerseys are good or bad (they are bad), they have no connection to the Utah Jazz.

What’s still mind boggling to me is the fact that Ryan Smith says the color pallet for this franchise is all over the place and his answer for that is 3 uni’s with a color combo that we’ve never used before. How in the hell does that simplify/dial in our color scheme???

I listened to Ryan Smith’s interview with Hans and Scotty G today and in a nutshell, he said that we’re gonna continue moving towards purple and 2 seasons from now, we’ll have 4 different purple uni’s. I still cannot understand why he put out a video with the tagline “Purple is back!” when the rebrand consisted of 3 uni’s with black & yellow and 1 purple throwback that has already been used.