Association football ( MLS) does not have a "white at home" or a "white while away" convention.
"White while away" is the convention in football ( NFL, CFL, NCAA football), major league professional hockey ( NHL), and professional lacrosse ( NLL and MLL). "White at home" is the convention in baseball ( MLB), basketball ( NBA, NCAA basketball, and WNBA), minor league professional hockey ( AHL and ECHL), and college hockey. Teams generally have one jersey which is primarily in a team color, and another jersey which is primarily white (or another light color) and accented with a team color. Alternative jerseys are common in Australia's two biggest domestic leagues, the Australian Football League ( Aussie rules) and National Rugby League ( rugby league).įor home and away jerseys in North America, historical convention has often dictated the colors used by teams in a given league. Third kits are commonplace in professional European association football and in some professional European rugby union clubs. Third-choice jerseys or uniforms are used in all four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. In cases where teams have worn more than three kits in the same season, the extra kits were usually recycled from previous seasons.
Įxtra alternative uniforms or fourth/fifth kits are not commonly used, but are sometimes required when teams' other uniforms cause color clashes, or the uniforms are unavailable to use. Another use of the alternative uniform is for identifying with causes, like the Central Coast Mariners wear an alternative pink kit on pink ribbon day. Of North American sports leagues, the National Football League generates $1.2 billion annually in jersey sales, with the National Basketball Association second, selling $900 million annually.
Alternative jerseys are also a lucrative means for professional sports organizations to generate revenue, by sales to fans.
The 2003 black alternative uniform of the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football LeagueĪ third jersey, alternative jersey, third kit, third sweater or alternative uniform is a jersey or uniform that a sports team can wear instead of its home outfit or its away outfit during games, often when the colors of two competing teams' other uniforms are too similar to contrast easily.