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One question that many fans have been asking about is that about the alternate black jerseys that the Arizona Cardinals started wearing a season ago. Thus far in the preseason, they have been MIA. The story for the game against the Denver Broncos is the same. The team will not wear the alternate black jerseys.
It turns out that there are actual rules in place regarding alternate jerseys that the NFL has put into place. Darren Urban from azcardinals.com explained these strange rules.
Via Twitter, Urban explained that the NFL no longer allows teams to wear their alternate jerseys during the preseason. Teams can, during the regular season, wear them for two home games, as long as it is before November 13, when the flex scheduling begins.
The Cardinals have not yet announced when they will use the black jerseys, but the whole thing is strange.
Why the league restricts the alternate jerseys so much is beyond my comprehension.
Of course, this is the same league that fines players for not having their jersey tucked in or for all sorts of benign things regarding the uniform.
It just seems like the league likes to have rules and restrictions for the sake of having them. They must have their reasons, but how different would it be for the game of football if the Cardinals wore their black uniforms after November 13? Would it really affect the game or the TV audience, or advertisers -- or anything at all?
So no we know why the black uniforms have not yet been used. They can't be used -- yet. They will be used at some point. We just don't when, but we do know when we can't .
Nice work, NFL.