To clarify, the Chargers wore the Powder Blue uniforms (they actually called it "Collegiate Blue", not Powder Blue) until 1973. From 1974 through 1987 (which include the "Air Coryell" days) they wore Royal Blue and Gold - which included Royal Blue helmets and Gold facemasks. They moved to Navy in 1988.
Thank you for correcting me ...
Heres an article about SD and their uniform changes ..
Are Bolts' uniform changes colored by few greenbacks?
You must be registered for see images
By Kevin Acee
STAFF WRITER
March 17, 2007
The Chargers' uniform change has some fans believing the alteration was fiscally motivated, suspicions that are off-base but not entirely without basis.
“Sure, eventually we will make money,” Chargers Chief Operating Officer Jim Steeg said. “It's going to take awhile to recover what we've invested.”
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
And as one sports marketing expert said, NFL teams' profit from merchandise sales “is not as big a deal as the retail numbers would suggest, but it is money.”
The reality is that in a good year a team nets upward of $5 million on merchandise sales, according to the best estimates culled from sources and league retail sales figures. And that number does not figure to jump dramatically – in large part due to the NFL's revenue-sharing plan and partly because the Chargers are already among the league's top-selling brands.
The team's new look was officially unveiled Wednesday before an invited crowd of sponsors and media at the U.S. Grant Hotel, as players modeled the game uniforms and helmets. Some merchandise is already on sale at the team's Qualcomm Stadium store and on its Web site. Replica jerseys won't be on shelves until the last week of April.
Late last week, the public got its first look at the uniforms. The team will wear its new practice jersey at minicamps in May and June and in training camp beginning the end of July. Not until August will the entire team be seen in the new game jerseys.
But already, amid the good and bad reviews from fans who have seen one-and/or two-dimensional pictures, there is a fairly common theme.
Many believe the Chargers' change was driven simply by the desire to ignite merchandise sales and thus make more money.
The team – not surprisingly – says revenue was not the reason for the change. This was the perfect time, it says, to give the current players their own style.
The reality is this:
“Every so often (teams) change to sell a whole new raft of stuff,” said Harvard Business School professor Stephen A. Greyser, who specializes in sports marketing. “ . . . It's not as big a deal as the retail numbers would suggest, but it is money. When a team changes uniforms, it does have economic benefits – primarily at the league level.”
While NFL merchandise sales totaled $3.2 billion worldwide in 2006, according to
License Global magazine, that is retail sales.
In the socialist NFL economy, teams share approximately 12 percent of the wholesale price of an item. Based on that number and the approximate wholesale price of 40 to 50 percent of retail, it is a fair estimate to say that when a Terrell Owens or Michael Vick or Antonio Gates jersey is sold, each of the 32 NFL teams gets about 11 cents.
“That's NFL math,” Brian McCarthy, the NFL's director of corporate communications, said of the even split.
“People go ga-ga over the hundreds of millions of (sales),” Greyser said. “But I say, 'Wait a minute, they only get a percentage of wholesale.' ”
The Chargers keep a higher percentage on items sold at its Qualcomm Stadium store or on the team's Web site. The team must still share those revenues with its operating partners. What the Chargers realize on sales of $4 million-plus at its stadium location and on Chargers.com is likely about $1 million, based on a sliding scale of percentages that differs between game days and the other 355 days of the year.
“Maybe if we had five or six stores, that's a possibility,” Steeg said of realizing a significant profit off the change. “But not with one store.”
The Chargers are also investing around $750,000 up-front to change everything from the carpet in their locker room to the letterhead on their stationery in order to reflect the new color scheme.
The uniform change is expected to coincide with boosted sales of Chargers merchandise. But the team's success over the past three seasons can be credited with some of the increase.
“We expect an incremental surge in Chargers merchandise,” McCarthy said. “But that's really based on the team's success. You get the feeling the team could go out there and wear the Bad News Bears' jerseys and they'd sell.”
Between April 1, 2006, and Jan. 31, 2007, Chargers merchandise was the fifth-best selling among the league's teams. That's a rapid run up the rankings, in that the Chargers were in the bottom five just five years ago. Of course, in 2001 they were coming off a 1-15 season and are now building off a 14-2 season.
David Carter, executive director of the USC Sports Business Institute, supported the idea that winning and marquee players (such as the Chargers have in LaDainian Tomlinson and Shawne Merriman) are paramount to merchandise sales.
Carter did acknowledge style and colors can affect sales, pointing to the success of far-flung minor league teams in marketing their product. But he defended the Chargers against cynics.
“I don't think a team that hasn't made material changes in two decades is guilty of shamelessly changing its mark and logo as other teams have historically been,” Carter said. “ . . . It seems to be appropriate to update the look and feel over time.”
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070317/news_1s17chargers.html