Nike pulled off a huge coup in 2010 when it wrangled the apparel rights for the NFL from Reebok. At a cost of $1.1 billion, Nike will produce uniforms for all 32 of the league's teams for five years, depriving Reebok, now a division of Adidas, of some $250 million in annual revenue. And though plenty of fans were excited to see the uniforms once they were wrung through the "Nike design centrifuge," the new duds have met with decidedly mixed reviews. Are they a bust?
Move on, there's nothing to see here: With the exception of the Seattle Seahawks' outfits, the uniforms "look exactly the same or almost the same," says Paul Lukas at ESPN. "Nike can't just walk in and make design changes without a team's permission," and most are reluctant to sign off on anything "wacky." And the new look for the Seahawks, which features splash of "neon green," will probably only appeal to those who "view football as a video game played by comic book superheroes in costumes." For all the hype, the "NFL still looks like the NFL."
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