Eagles Switching To Kelly Green Uniforms? Not So Fast

The Eagles are aware of the petition (now with north of 9,000 supporters) to reinstate Kelly Green as the team’s official color, but there is very little they can do in the short term to make that a reality.

Changing uniforms in the NFL has become a lengthy and exhaustive process. According to the league offices, it essentially takes two years to make the switch once the request from the team is submitted. So if the Eagles today declared they wanted their primary uniforms to be Kelly Green, it wouldn’t actually come to pass until the 2015 season under the current policy.

The NFL does a lot of homework before giving its stamp of approval. They exchange design ideas with the team; test the uniform on the field, inspecting how it looks from every seat in the stadium (both indoors and out, at night and during the day), and how it looks on camera; they want to see how it would appear in stores, and get player feedback.

Would the old school uniforms play well enough for the new-school NFL to accept them as the Eagles’ official look? Who knows, but I’d guess NIKE (who took over for Reebok last year) would want to at least add its own touch.

How about alternate jerseys?

Teams are locked into their alternates for five years once they choose one, and my understanding is they are able to wear them twice a season for select games. The Eagles have been wearing the black alternates for longer than five years, therefor they can theoretically change it up. But that also needs to be submitted for approval, and takes time. If the Eagles have requested a change, they have yet to make it public.

You can work a throwback into the mix on occasion as well (the Eagles wore the Kelly Green unis in the opener against Green Bay in 2010, for example) but getting that special dispensation isn’t as easy as you might imagine.

Bottom line, I think the team would like to answer the fans and have the Kelly Greens in the mix, but it will be tough for them to do it immediately.

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