Nike to Unveil New 2012 NFL Jerseys in New York
Nike is expected to unveil its jersey designs for the 32 National Football League teams today at an event in New York.
In an unexpected turn, the NFL cut ties with Reebok and instead joined forced with one of Reebok's Oregon-based competitors, Nike, to create brand new uniforms for NFL teams.
"We think fans want quality. They want innovation. They will see that in the products, in the hats, in the jerseys. They will see that in all of the apparel. It starts with two partners coming in with other licensees to re-launch our whole apparel line," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told CNBC.
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"We believe in better. We believe our products can become more innovative and we're doing this around the transition into their licensed products and also around the draft. We're just three weeks away from the draft and this is a time when fans are starting to focus on the next season and the merchandise that goes with it," he added.
The unveiling of the new jerseys is expected to take place at around 11 a.m. ET at Steiner Studios in Brooklyn and the jerseys are expected to go on sale on April 26, which is also when the NFL Draft will take place.
Nike will introduce a video campaign to introduce and promote the new NFL team jerseys later this month.
The NFL recently explained the organization's decision to move away from Reebok and incorporate Nike.
"You know I think that, as we like to say, Reebok was the right partner 10 years ago. But clearly ... we feel like we've been missing that sort of energy that Draft has become, that the NFL has become," Leo J. Kane, NFL's senior vice president for consumer products said at a press conference.
"Who did we want to be on our field? We looked at performance, innovation, what's going to make our players perform better in a more safer way?" Kane said, adding that "when you see the new [jerseys] that come out (this morning) in Brooklyn, we just think the design and the retail product our fans will be able to wear will be just much more updated in the kind of fabrics and the sort of innovation that you'd expect."
