The Atlanta Falcons are one of seven NFL teams making changes to their uniforms in 2020. When will The Dirty Birds’ new threads be revealed to the public?
Dirty Bird Nation has a love-hate relationship with the Atlanta Falcons’ uniforms over the years.
In their 50-plus years as an NFL franchise, Atlanta has boasted a few iconic threads NFL fans all over the country clamor for. For some, the red tops and red helmets from the 1970s and 1980s are their jam. These are the jerseys Claude Humphrey, Steve Bartkowski and Gerald Riggs became Ring of Honor members in.
And for others, the “Back in Black” era beginning in the early 1990s are everything. These jerseys remind us of the peak Deion Sanders years in Atlanta, the original Dirty Birds making it to the Super Bowl and the earliest years of the Michael Vick experience.
But for the last 18 years, the Falcons jerseys have never been anything to write home about. They’re not bad, but don’t get you fired up for fall Sundays in The ATL like they should. Fortunately, the Falcons are planning to give their players and their fans the jerseys they deserve. So when will these new uniforms be revealed to the public?
What day are the Falcons getting new uniforms in 2020?
The Falcons sent out this cryptic tweet at 5:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday afternoon. This was merely hours after their division rival Tampa Bay Buccaneers unleashed their sweet, new digs for 2020 with so much pewter, you have to love it.
Atlanta’s message was simple: New uniforms are coming on April 14.
As it said in the tweet, this is the first wholesale change to the Falcons’ uniforms in 17 years. Shortly after the Falcons came alive under Vick in 2002, they completely changed their logo and uniform concept. It was a way to move more merchandise, as well as firmly establish it was Arthur Blank’s franchise, who had recently purchased the team from the Smith Family in the early 2000s.
In the years to follow, Atlanta slightly modified its look to move off the Vick era. The Falcons never wear black threads unless they are a tribute to the “Back in Black” era. They’ve pretty much rocked the red jerseys with a black helmet for the last decade-plus.
So what could the new uniform look like? Red and black are the Falcons’ two primary colors, but keep in mind Blank also owns the MLS’ Atlanta United FC, who prominently features gold accents, just like the Falcons originally did as an expansion team in the mid-1960s.
Along with white, these four colors pay tribute to the state’s two prominent college football programs: The Georgia Bulldogs (red and black) and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (Old Gold and white). So no, it would not be shocking to see the Dirty Birds with some gold on their new uniforms. Atlanta United pulls it off well, and so will the Falcons.
Surely, the new jerseys will be an improvement over the blandness associated with the red kits of the Matt Ryan/Julio Jones era. But the question remains will they change the logo and what color will the new helmet be? Will it stay black or return to red?
With only a week remaining before the big reveal, there’s no way the folks up in Flowery Branch can change the concept. They can’t be outdone by the Buccaneers, who did set the bar pretty high on Tuesday afternoon.
If the Falcons view themselves as a first-class organization, they can’t botch these new jerseys.