Getting to the Heart of NFL Throw-Back Jerseys: Its All About the Trademarks Baby!

Sunday several of us tuned in to see the New England Patriots take on the undefeated Denver Broncos at Invesco Field in Denver. When the Patriots took the field we were all struck by the throw back uniforms they wore circa the 80s, the Jim Grogan era – the only quarterback in the NFL to ever wear a neck brace.

And then Denver took the field in uniforms that could only evoke feelings of what it must look like to view monkey poo – brown all over with streaks of banana yellow. And we thought – why on earth would they dress in such a manner? Did they loose a bet?

In a league that mandates the color of shoes worn by players, the height of the socks, as well as other minutia, to let Denver take the field in those, um, jerseys - wow.

But we believe we have discovered the reason why. In a word, trademarks!

As you may be aware the marketing machine that is the NFL, its franchises, and its official licensees continue to sell throw-back jerseys as well as other merchandise. Although we doubt they sell many of Denver’s (at least the monkey poo ones) they more than likely sell plenty of old Dallas and New England retro jerseys among others. And while their trademarks for these in connection with the Jerseys may be able to be maintained by the sale of the old jerseys themselves, other trademarks such as the New England Patriot’s registration for the original “Patriot” design in connection with exhibition football games cannot. To avoid abandoning those marks, the league must use the marks on jerseys or other advertisements in the connection with the actual advertisement or provision of the football games themselves. Hence every so often, we bet at least every three years or less, we see the old retro jerseys rolled out.

The obvious winners, the trademark holders and merchandising machine that is the NFL. The losers, if any, are players who play for teams like Denver charged with keeping up the rouge of “throw-back” weekends and having to wear the aforementioned monkey poo jerseys.

The Trademark Company