Nike unveiled new receiver gloves and cleats during the Pro Bowl on Sunday and it made the Internet (specifically Twitter) explode with people concerned about teams making changes; much like the fake Nike NFL Pro Combat jerseys that leaked on the Internet earlier this year. From what has been said on NBC sports (find the whole article here) Nike doesn’t have the control to change team logos and colors, which is controlled by the NFL and the NFL executives have to sign off on team changes. This leads me to believe that the majority of teams won’t be making drastic changes and that the Pro Combat jerseys will stay in the college game.
A sports jersey blog (Uni-Watch) seems to echo this sentiment, saying that no one should expect any sweeping changes throughout the league. And while the Seahawks have had discussions with Nike about changing their uniforms, the Jaguars equipment manager has said that the Jaguars will get new uniforms in 2013 (twitter), and the Panthers just unveiled a new logo, that other changes haven’t been announced or hinted at by the other 29 teams.
For me I have to agree with Uni-Watch; the NFL is a major billion dollar industry, and they can push companies like Nike around. They won’t take any crap from Phil Knight and if they don’t like anything that Nike has to say or wants to do, I would expect them to let them know. If you’re like me and hate change, I wouldn’t worry about the Lions making drastic changes just because Nike is now the NFL’s new supplier.
The Daily Traub 
