WNBA to celebrates 20th season with new team uniform colors

By

Obi Anyanwu

Published
Mar 28, 2016

The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) announced Monday the unveiling of new team uniform colors and commemorative items in celebration of its landmark 20th basketball season.
 
The WNBA and Adidas, the current official on-court apparel provider for the WNBA, will introduce a new palette of colors for 10 teams. The uniforms replace traditional white home and color road uniforms with primary and secondary team color jerseys. Uniforms for the Los Angeles Sparks and San Antonio Stars will remain the same since both teams already feature all-color uniform designs.

 
All 12 WNBA teams, including the San Antonio Stars, Minnesota Lynx, Chicago Sky, Atlanta Dream, Indiana Fever, Connecticut Sun, Washington Mystics, Seattle Storm and Dallas Wings, will feature special 20th season logos on the back neckline of their jerseys. The three inaugural WNBA teams, the New York Liberty, Phoenix Mercury and Los Angeles Sparks will feature special 20th season patches on the front left chest of their jerseys to pay tribute to the league’s first season in 1997.
 
The new uniforms come just one season before Nike will replace Adidas as the official outfitter for the NBA and WNBA. Adidas announced in March 2015 that it would not renew its contract with the NBA in order to invest money on new products and players.

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In addition to the uniform changes, Spalding and Adidas will launch 20th season commemorative items, including a new game ball embossed with the 20th season logo, WNBA 20th season apparel like headwear and t-shirts, and limited edition 20th anniversary sneakers in black, orange and white. Only 150 pairs of sneakers will be produced and used for league auctions and local team activations during the 2016 season. The special edition basketball will be available on the WNBA website in April, and the 20th season apparel will launch on the WNBA website and NBA Store on Fifth Avenue at the start of the season.
 
The league was founded in 1996 with eight inaugural teams, the Sparks, Mercury, Liberty, Sacramento Monarchs, Utah Jazz, Charlotte Sting, Cleveland Rockers, and Houston Comets. The WNBA replaced the Monarchs, Jazz, Sting, Rockers and Comets and added four additional teams.
 
The 20th season tips off on May 14, 2016 with five games, highlighted by an ESPN telecast of the defending WNBA champion Minnesota Lynx and the Phoenix Mercury. The 2016 season will run through September.