Another factor administrators considered was BYU fans’ reluctance to wear bright royal blue. “We’ve been trying for a long time to get our fans to wear blue to our games,” Hale says. “Unlike other universities, where they wear the school colors with pride, if you go to a BYU athletic event you’ll find the whole rainbow of colors.”

The decision to officially darken Cougar blue was driven in part by ticket holders’ preferences for darker blues–preferences that are obvious in sales records for BYU apparel and in the stands on game days. Administrators are hoping the change to a more wearable blue will turn BYU‘s typically motley stands into monochrome cheer
ing Perhaps the most talked-about elements of the change are the new football uniforms, dramatically redesigned by Nike. Fehlberg says that by creating stunningly different uniforms, Nike has made BYU“their NCAA poster child in the same way they did the NFL’s Denver Broncos two years ago.”

Some Denver fans didn’t love their team’s uniforms at first, Hale says, but a lot of former skeptics now say the Broncos have the best uniforms in the NFL. He’s hoping BYU‘s new athletic designs will win over skeptical fans in a similar fashion.

“We think that by the end of the year–if they just give it a chance–they will really like it,” he says.