Why do football teams have alternate uniforms?

All sports teams, especially college football squads, have alternate uniforms aside from their home and away threads. They might be tasteful, might be not, but they will always be there no matter what you do.

But why do football teams have alternate uniforms in the first place? This article will take a look at the several answers to this question and try to explain why those alternates even have to be made.

Why do football teams have alternate uniforms?

Also known as a "Third Jersey," an alternate uniform is intended to be worn when two competing sports teams have uniforms that are too similar to be separated easily.

For example, the Tulane "baby blue" uniforms and the normal blue away uniforms of UNC. It would be easy to mistake the Green Wave for the Tar Heels if not for the dark green trims on these. Since the two uniforms look so similar, if these two teams ever face each other, an alternate uniform would be a good choice to differentiate them.

Tulane powder blue uniforms

The more 'obvious' importance of alt uniforms in CFB

But is an alternate uniform important in college football? Yes, and as per Bleacher Report, the reason is still money and marketing.

College football teams make a lot of revenue by marketing themselves one way or another. Just like professional sports teams, CFB teams want (and need) to look good to attract fans through stadium gates and make them pay for tickets. They also want to attract multi-year, multi-billion-dollar TV broadcast deals.

It's all business at the end of the day.

Is an alternate uniform a good marketing ploy for CFB teams?

Why not? Just take a closer look and you'll see why.

A college football team wanting to make a buzz will reveal new alternate uniform designs. Fans will react and decide whether they like it or not. Either way, they're still fans of the team and will come into the stadium, pay for tickets and merch, and watch the team rock the uniforms in-game.

These fans will then post their thoughts on social media, share them to their friends, and the team gains even more buzz. Then the traditional media picks the buzz up. It blows up on national TV. The team gets more recognition whether bad or good, and they reap the financial benefits from it because people react to the uniforms themselves.

That's why college football teams have alternate uniforms--to help drive fan engagement and make them more revenue at the end of the day.