Nike’s ‘Color Rush’ uniforms prove problematic for colorblind fans

By Jordan Valinsky • November 13, 2015 •

Nike’s special “Color Rush” uniforms caused a rash of complaints last night.

For Thursday’s game between the New York Jets and the Buffalo Bills, Nike ditched the usual arrangement of having one team wearing white to help fans differentiate teams from afar. Instead, they designed an all-red uniform for the Bills and an all-green uniform for the Jets, causing complete confusion.

#ColorRush #BUFvsNYJ #TNF pic.twitter.com/VHhpFIADUT

— NFL (@NFL) November 13, 2015

Here’s what the game looked like for colorblind fans:

Here’s what last night’s NFL game looked like to millions with red-green colorblindness: https://t.co/CpJFVbxSPw pic.twitter.com/6z8n212Qj6 — Deadspin (@Deadspin) November 13, 2015

During the game, fans, players and even NFL officials complained about it on Twitter:

I am actually incapable of watching this game as a colorblind person. every player is on the same team as far as I know.

— Sam Cooper (@SamDCooper) November 13, 2015

This matchup is a color blind person’s nightmare. Teams are blending together. — Gregg Rosenthal (@greggrosenthal) November 13, 2015

Thanks @NFL for putting @nyjets in all green and @buffalobills in all red! Us color blind dudes can just guess whose blocking and tackling

— Coach Arnold Jr (@stontheready) November 13, 2015

If you are colorblind like me this @NFL game is going to be hard to follow. @buffalobills vs @nyjets — Lawrence Tynes (@lt4kicks) November 13, 2015

Great night to watch football if you’re like me – red/green color blind.

— Vic Lombardi (@VicLombardi) November 13, 2015

Bills’ head coach Rex Ryan admitted in a press conference after the game that he was confused: “But hell, I look out there and my team’s in red. Blue, I might have had a chance. But I’m like, ‘Who are they? Oh shoot, that’s us,'” he said. “So, it’s different.”

Even NFL.com blasted its sponsor and called it a “Christmas-tinged nightmare.”

The complaints are valid because colorblindness is common. According to the National Eye Institute which says that as many as 8 percent of U.S. men (and 0.5 percent of women) have it. It also didn’t help that MetLife’s green turf only compounded to the problem.

When Nike announced the “Color Rush” initiative between itself and the NFL earlier this month, the company said the idea was to “recapture the spectacle by highlighting color in a reinvigorated and reimagined way” as a way to celebrate the 50th year that football has been shown in color on television.

Digiday didn’t immediately hear from Nike if it plans to change the uniforms since the rest of this season’s Thursday games all have the “Color Rush” theme. The special uniforms are available for sale on Nike’s website if you want to troll your colorblind friends in real life, too.

Images via Twitter.