NFL’s Alternate Uniforms Fuel Big Business—and Lots of Nostalgia

A run of new NFL uniforms will be unveiled over the next several weeks, taking full advantage of a recently revised league policy and once more tapping into fans’ strong desire for throwback and alternate looks.

The Commanders began the spurt Wednesday with an alternate “Super Bowl Era” uniform set that will be worn for three nationally broadcast games this season, and heavily recalls the team’s glory days of the 1980s and early 1990s.

Washington’s release was the first of eight such unveilings expected this summer as the start of training camps approaches and anticipation builds for the 2025 NFL season. The Saints quickly followed suit on Wednesday with an alternate white helmet. Other teams planning alternate helmet or uniform releases soon include the Browns, Buccaneers, Chargers, Packers, Seahawks, and Steelers. 

In addition, another seven NFL teams—the Bills, Cardinals, Dolphins, Jets, Patriots, Rams, and 49ers—will have newly created alternate looks for 2025 as part of a multiyear “Rivalries” program announced in April with uniform supplier Nike that looks to further showcase intra-division games.

In many instances, these teams will be taking advantage of a new NFL rule approved at the league’s annual meeting this past spring. Teams will be allowed to wear alternate uniforms as many as four times during the regular season, up from a prior three times per club. Teams also gained approval to wear alternate helmets with primary home and road jerseys, creating many additional potential uniform combinations. 

Alternates and throwbacks amount to as much as 30% of all NFL jersey sales—a figure outstripping their presence on the field and showing their outsized popularity with fans. 

Bigger Politics 

For the Commanders, the new uniforms reflect an ongoing desire by team owner Josh Harris to tap into the team’s storied history as much as possible, without reverting to its prior name. That sentiment also includes an ongoing plan to return to the site of its former home, RFK Stadium, in a new venue, though political battles continue regarding the funding plan for that effort. 

“Ever since Josh Harris and our ownership group acquired the team back in 2023, they’ve placed great value in finding ways to connect the past and present and pay homage to those that made the burgundy and gold what it is today,” said Commanders president Mark Clouse. 

The alternate Commanders uniforms will be worn for Sunday Night Football home games on Nov. 2 against the Seahawks and Nov. 30 against the Broncos, and a Christmas Day game, also at Northwest Stadium, on Netflix against the archrival Cowboys. The latter game in particular is a key part of the overall 2025 NFL schedule. 

U.S. President Donald Trump, however, has continued to call on the team to restore its prior nickname, similar to how he has reverted several military bases to their prior identities that have been questioned on racial lines. 

“I wouldn’t have changed the name,” Trump said of the team last weekend. “It just doesn’t have the same ring to me.”

Under the Commanders name introduced in 2022, the team last year had its most successful season in more than three decades and reached the NFC championship game.