Utah Jazz rebrand: Purple is who we are

The Utah Jazz have finally revealed their much-anticipated rebrand. This includes new primary colors, new uniforms, and new courts.

New Colors

Utah’s new look will feature black, white, and yellow, with each of those colors having its own uniform. The early fan reception of these colors had been uncertain when the uniform concepts were leaked. While this isn’t a new experience for any NBA design team, Utah Jazz staff members were urging fans to save judgment for after they’ve seen how it looks when it all comes together. Now that we can see it all, it will be interesting to see how public opinion shifts.

The new primary court in Vivint Arena will be clean, simple, and sleek. Featuring the black J-note logo at center court and the keys painted black, this will be a new and modern look for the Jazz. Team owners Ryan Smith and Dwyane Wade both collaborated with the Jazz design team to create this look and were involved from the very beginning.

Purple Mountain Classics

The surprise for many fans is the fourth jersey, which is a return to a classic. The purple mountain jerseys once rocked by John Stockton and Karl Malone will be returning to the modern Jazz yet again. After fans expressed how much they loved seeing current stars sporting those snowy mountain peaks, the Utah Jazz have decided to run it back. This will come with a court of its own. This time, the court will be reworked a bit, with fully purple paint in the keys, rather than the teal we’d seen before.

Bright Future

The biggest announcement made today was the future uniforms for the next season. While the purple mountain classic jerseys will be here for this coming year, they’re serving as a way to reintroduce purple into the main color scheme. They’ll be paving the way for two new uniforms for the 2023-24 season. Those uniforms will be the first non-throwback purple uniforms that the Utah Jazz have worn since the 2003-04 season. A 20-year gap. Jazz nation has been waiting for the team to embrace purple once again, and they’re finally doing it.

As Jazz fans know, purple has been part of the franchise’s identity since its beginnings in New Orleans. From the Mardi Gras uniforms of the 80s to the Utah mountain uniforms of the 90s, the Jazz have repped a lot of purple. In the most recent eras of branding, Utah has gone away from purple, only bringing it back for the occasional throwback jersey. Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith signaled his ambitions on Twitter when he said of the rebrand, “Purple is who we are... It’s here to stay.”

Smith’s vision for this rebrand has been one of evolution. He doesn’t see it as a total change but as a modernized version of who the team has always been. When you think of the Utah Jazz, you think of purple. Now, they’ll be modernized with a sleek, clean design, with black and white as the more modern, minimalist spin. This look will continue to change over time. Utah hopes to build a global brand. The announcement today is just the beginning.