North Texas Daily

Nicholas Peterson / Intern

College uniforms is a popular topic in the world of college sports.

The NCAA is being sued by a number of plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit for profiting off of players’ likenesses in a number of areas, including jersey sales and video games. The court will have the tough task of deciding whether the NCAA violated antitrust laws. The resulting verdict will have a lasting impact on the landscape of college athletics.

Also, a branding war is taking place between Nike, Under Armour and Adidas with each company competing to field the most college football uniforms on Saturdays. This has proven to be must-see entertainment as networks have marketed the uniforms into their pre-game coverage. Each company tries to one-up the other, leading to some interesting variations.

UNT teamed up with Nike as they unveiled a 100th anniversary edition uniform for last Saturday’s season opener against the University of Idaho. For the
players, it was about respect for the players who came before them.

“It was really an honor to play in those,” senior wide receiver Darnell Smith said. “To look back and see what they did back in the day and to see where we are now, it’s really a big honor.”

The football team is not the only squad taking the field in new uniforms. The Mean Green soccer team has a new home jersey, modeled in the “hoops” design that is famously used by the European soccer club Celtic. Local Major League Soccer team FC Dallas also uses a similar design with its uniforms.

“[The jerseys] definitely change an athlete’s mindset and gets them even more pumped for the game,” sophomore midfielder Gabi Ortiz said.

Clothing and confidence have long been intertwined, but the game still has to be played.

“Before the game, we all want to look good and look nice,” Smith said. “But when we step onto that field, it doesn’t matter.”

But as uniform variation increase and each university tries to top the other, players make it clear jerseys do matter.

“If I was looking at schools right now, I would probably look at their uniforms to see if I liked them first,” Mean Green soccer forward Rachel Holden said.

Feature photo courtesy of meangreensports.com