AHC: make green more popular for professional sports colors

DISCLAIMER: I know zip about rugby, Australian rules football, or the various soccer organizations so I disregarded those going in; not going to venture into areas with which I'm unfamiliar. Hence this discussion's scope is confined to North America.

Anyhow: pretty much what the subject line says. A few items:
  • Of the twelve NFL teams at the beginning of the 1950s, only the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers used green.
  • None of the original eight AFL teams did, but the Jets adopted green when they changed from the New York Titans for the 1964 season.
  • Of the nine CFL teams before the Ottawa Rough Riders folded, only the Edmonton Eskimos and Saskatchewan Rough Riders used green.
  • NONE of the NHL's original six used green (three-Chicago, Montreal, and Detroit-used red or a close variation of it; two-Toronto and the Rangers-used blue; one-Boston-used black).
  • NONE of baseball's original sixteen teams used green in their original locations (although the A's adopted green while close to the end of their tenure in Kansas City, and for a very brief period in the '30s, the Dodgers called themselves the Aces and used green and white uniforms)
  • I don't pay attention at all to the NBA, so the only one I'm aware of is the Dallas Mavericks.
And even today it's not used much. In baseball, it's the A's; the NFL still has the Packers, Eagles, Jets (no, turquoise doesn't count); the NHL has the Stars and Wild (both expansion teams; teal or turquoise don't count).

So...how would one or more teams adopt green for good back in the '30s, '20s, or before?
 
Don't you have some issues with team nicknames? (Blackhawks or Red Wings obviously aren't going to wear green...) Okay, a Boston team (with Irish connections) might well (per St. Pats). Dodgers or Mets is neutral enough they might've...

Do you get associations with money, & pro teams wanting to avoid it?

Can you get a "boys of summer" appeal, with green recalling the ballfield?
 
DISCLAIMER: I know zip about rugby, Australian rules football, or the various soccer organizations so I disregarded those going in; not going to venture into areas with which I'm unfamiliar. Hence this discussion's scope is confined to North America.

Anyhow: pretty much what the subject line says. A few items:
  • Of the twelve NFL teams at the beginning of the 1950s, only the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers used green.
  • None of the original eight AFL teams did, but the Jets adopted green when they changed from the New York Titans for the 1964 season.
  • Of the nine CFL teams before the Ottawa Rough Riders folded, only the Edmonton Eskimos and Saskatchewan Rough Riders used green.
  • NONE of the NHL's original six used green (three-Chicago, Montreal, and Detroit-used red or a close variation of it; two-Toronto and the Rangers-used blue; one-Boston-used black).
  • NONE of baseball's original sixteen teams used green in their original locations (although the A's adopted green while close to the end of their tenure in Kansas City, and for a very brief period in the '30s, the Dodgers called themselves the Aces and used green and white uniforms)
  • I don't pay attention at all to the NBA, so the only one I'm aware of is the Dallas Mavericks.
And even today it's not used much. In baseball, it's the A's; the NFL still has the Packers, Eagles, Jets (no, turquoise doesn't count); the NHL has the Stars and Wild (both expansion teams; teal or turquoise don't count).

So...how would one or more teams adopt green for good back in the '30s, '20s, or before?
Well, regardless of how many adopted green uniforms in the '20's and 30's, most of them wouldn't have survived much past 1941...
luckygreentank.jpg

You're gonna need that green dye for the war effort, dont'cha know.
 
DISCLAIMER: I know zip about rugby, Australian rules football, or the various soccer organizations so I disregarded those going in; not going to venture into areas with which I'm unfamiliar. Hence this discussion's scope is confined to North America.

So...how would one or more teams adopt green for good back in the '30s, '20s, or before?

In Australian Rugby League, only one foundation team (the South Sydney Rabbitohs) in the original Sydney rugby league comp wore green (and red) jerseys from 1908 onwards.
south-sydney-rabbitohs-1967-retro-rugby-league-jersey-mick-simmons-sport_1024x1024.jpg

It would be another 74 years until another team (Canberra Raiders) joined the comp with a predominantly green jersey.
s-l1000.jpg


Of the teams in the Brisbane comp, Wynnum Manly had red, white & green jerseys from their inception in 1931,
cq5dam.thumbnail.319.319.png


while from 1982 onwards, the Ipswich Jets had green and white (later green, white & yellow) jerseys.
1993_colts.jpg


And let's not forget that many of Australia's national representative teams use green as one of Australia's national colours (along with gold). Since 1899, the Australian cricket team has worn the famous 'baggy green' cap and latterly batting helmet,
0279.jpg


While the Kangaroos, Australia's national rugby league representative team have played in the green and gold jersey since 1928.

1987-australia-michael-o-connor-match-worn-v-kiwis-rugby-league-shirt-kangaroos-jersey-[2]-7939-p.jpg


In Australian Rules Football, none of the 1897 foundation clubs wore green. Only the admission of Port Adelaide in the 1990s saw a green (more like teal) jersey in the Australian Football League for the first time.

Hope this helps.
 
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For some reason unknown to me, green was considered an unlucky color in American oval track auto racing.
IIRC, there were a couple of serious (fatal?) wrecks of green cars in the '40s, leading to a reluctance. Much the same as the "no peanuts in the pits" rule, after a fatal wreck of someone who was eating them in the car.
 
The green thing was mostly American and oval-related. Road racers didn't have the same problem with green, and, of course, BRG was Great Britain's national color in international racing.
 
Don't you have some issues with team nicknames? (Blackhawks or Red Wings obviously aren't going to wear green...)

I count five teams in the NHL with colors in their names (Red Wings, Blackhawks, Blues, Blue Jackets, Golden Knights) and none of them wear green. I count only the Wild, Stars and Ducks as green-wearing, and two of them entered the league in the last 25 years.

One possibility to make green more popular is more college teams at the top of football or basketball that wear it. I count Norte Dame and Michigan State at the upper echelons of those two sports, at least historically, wearing green, and Notre Dame wears blue and gold before green. And as for Michigan State...how many pro teams have been called the Spartans? (The Detroit Lions were founded as the Portsmouth Spartans and that's about it.)
 

Bulldoggus

Banned
It makes perfect sense that Baseball, Football, and Soccer teams wouldn't want to wear green, as it blends in with the field. I do wonder why Hockey and Basketball are similar though.
 

JamesG

Donor
I'd suggest association with the Irish could well be what held it back. (Obviously Boston Celtics were never going to mind and went for it)
 
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