Whether you love them or loathe them, they’re at least finally here.
On Friday morning, after months of speculation and plenty of alleged design leaks, the Utah Jazz officially unveiled their team rebrand featuring four primary new jerseys, two court designs, and a simplified logo.
The rollout mostly matched what had already been revealed: three relatively basic designs in black and white and yellow, as well as the so-called “purple mountain” jersey first popularized in the team’s late-’90s heyday, which made a comeback in recent seasons.
Among the new looks are a black jersey with a basic, blocky “UTAH” wordmark, numbers, Five for the Fight logo patch, and Nike Jumpman logo in yellow; a yellow jersey (derisively referred to as “highlighter yellow” by some non-enthused fans) featuring a basic “JAZZ” wordmark, numbers, Five for the Fight logo patch, Nike Swoosh patch, and “UTAH” belt wordmark in black; and a white jersey featuring yellow trim, plus the J-note logo, numbers, Five for the Fight logo patch, Nike Swoosh patch, and “UTAH” belt wordmark in black.
The “purple mountain” jersey remains the same for now — gradient mountain range, snowflake basketball logo on the waistband, “UJ” secondary logo on the left leg, et cetera.
Per a news release from the Jazz, the purple jersey will be considered the team’s “primary” jersey, while the other three have been deemed the alternates.
The release also sought to spell out a thematic explanation connecting the black, white, and yellow jerseys: “The white and black uniforms symbolize the white and black keys on a piano, a key figure in the history of Jazz music. The yellow jersey represents the spotlight designated to the greatest performers in history, a nod to the fact that Utah embraces being in the spotlight with all eyes watching.”
An accompanying video revealed that there will be two different purple jerseys to be unveiled for the 2023-24 season, including a retro-style purple-with-yellow-trim jersey featuring on old-style Jazz wordmark that includes a J-note, plus an updated version of the “purple mountain” look, this one featuring a stylized, rising “UTAH” wordmark in purple with white trim, and basic white numbers. (Fast forward to the 0:48 mark of the video to see them.)
The new courts, meanwhile, include one to match the “purple mountain” design, though it has been changed from previous iterations to now include all-purple restricted-area “paint” zones.
(Utah Jazz) The new Utah Jazz court that will accompany the team's "purple mountain" jersey design beginning with the 2022-23 season.
The completely-new court design features black most prominently in the center court J-note logo, the restricted-area “paint” zones, and in the surrounding perimeter, with some yellow and white accents.
(Utah Jazz) The new Utah Jazz court that will accompany the team's yellow, black, and white jersey designs beginning with the 2022-23 season.
Both courts will feature a 2023 NBA All-Star Game logo at the player check-in area in front of the scorers’ table, as a nod to Salt Lake City hosting that game.
New Jazz owner Ryan Smith appeared at the Oct. 13 appearance at the Silicon Slopes convention and confirmed that the team would be simplifying its color palette, in part due to a conversation with part-owner Dwyane Wade alleging that he and his mother could not get a handle on what the team’s main colors were.
As a result, gone are the popular “Red Rocks” and “Dark Mode” City Edition jerseys from recent seasons that evoked the southern part of the state and its myriad national parks.
Smith said at the time that the team would, of course, have a new City Edition jersey, but that he wanted it to be more inherently tied into a new, basic color scheme.
“The evolution of the brand of the Jazz has been something that’s been pretty consistent,” Smith said then. “What we’re trying to do is hone it all in.”
Another component of that was streamlining the team’s J-note logo. Previous iterations featured a combination of blue, yellow, and green. The new ones are simply white on black, and black on white.
(Utah Jazz) As part of the Utah Jazz's rebrand, the team has eliminated its blue, yellow, and green J-note logo, and replaced it with simple black-and-white versions.
(Utah Jazz) As part of the Utah Jazz's rebrand, the team has eliminated its blue, yellow, and green J-note logo, and replaced it with simple black-and-white versions.
