UTAH JAZZ FANS BETTER GET ACCUSTOMED TO CURRENT COLOR SCHEME

When Ryan Smith bought the Utah Jazz, he had multiple goals in mind. Making the team more accessible, more marketable, more unique were likely amongst the top of them.

He’s tinkered on the TV deal, brought in big names, allowed Danny Ainge to obliterate the roster and so on.

He also assured Jazz fans that the identity of Utah basketball would be solidified after years of alternating color pallets and schemes.

The result was a halfcourt heave that landed in the 7^th row 10 feet to the right of the backboard.

That fateful day, June 17^th 2022, Smith and Company would tell fans that purple was back by parading the classic purple mountain majesty jersey the Jazz wore from 1996-2004.

Purple would continue its run-in future seasons as an alternate jersey, two of which we will witness this season. As grand as that news was, the jerseys that came after were met with as much criticism as one could imagine.

From the color scheme never before used by the Jazz, to the font, to the minimalist styling, fans were displeased by the jerseys, the fit, and the merchandise sure to come after.

A season later, a few fans have accepted the look, while many other remain adamant against Utah’s primary jersey styles.

In the first half of the season the Jazz will wear their controversial Association, Icon, and Statement jerseys a total of 35 times in 43 games.

Just like your older co-worker, yes purple is back, but its only in a part time role with trimmed down duties.

If the jersey schedule failed to calm any fears pertaining to Utah’s “new style” Andy Larsen of the Salt Lake Tribune is here to offer you clarification.

Andy Larsen’s article, which you can read in full on the link below, asks: What colors are the Utah Jazz going to prioritize moving forward?”

In a news conference compiled by Larsen, Ryan Smith himself referred to the numbers.

“We’ve done a lot of research ourselves ... and we got some pretty incredible data from our fan base,”

“The biggest data point is the consumption of what our fans actually are consuming from a branding standpoint. And to be direct, the yellow and black is doing really well from a consumption standpoint. Probably better than anything we’ve ever really had.”

Who in the wide world of Jazz nation is backing these sales? How does this data come to fruition? I have met few, and I mean very few, like count on one hand number of fans who like the current jersey set outside of the purple stuff.

Are people lying through their teeth about how much they hate it as they buy a school crossing guard yellow hat with a Jazz logo on it?

Something doesn’t add up here. Ryan Smiths understanding is that the sales of merchandise support this atrocity of a rebrand, but where are the numbers coming from?

I would be very interested to see a precise breakdown of merchandise. If the Jazz are selling a ton of black merchandise, I get that. Black is a universal color and it seemingly makes everything look cool.

The Jazz have sold black merchandise for years, especially throughout the Donovan Mitchell-Rudy Gobert era as their dark mode city edition look.

This I could see. But if you told me that fans were buying more highlighter touched jerseys than jerseys of years past, I would have a hard time believing.

Whatever the mysterious case of it all is, I hope this data is corrupted or becomes corrupted because as of now, Smith seems to be content to continue on with the current look of the Utah Jazz.

ANDY LARSEN ARTICLE:

https://www.sltrib.com/sports/jazz/2023/10/25/purple-or-black-utah-jazz-owner/