When it comes to the Super Bowl, colors have always been a big deal: the silver glimmer of the Lombardi Trophy, the neon splash of a victorious Gatorade bath, the glory of franchise-colored confetti. Superstitions, conspiracy theories and history all come into focus as teams determine which jerseys they’ll don for the big game.
Throughout the season, the NFL requires teams to wear opposing jersey shades to ensure contrast during games. Teams use their primary team colors for home jerseys and white jerseys for away games. Although the Super Bowl is played on a neutral site, the two conference representatives are still designated as home and away teams.
The league alternates the Super Bowl’s home team designation between the two conferences annually. The NFC representative is the home team in even-numbered seasons, and the AFC representative is the home team in odd-numbered seasons.
Last year, the AFC’s Kansas City Chiefs were the home team for Super Bowl LVIII. As the NFC champions, the Philadelphia Eagles will be the designated home team for Super Bowl LIX.
While the designated away team gets to call the opening coin toss, the home team gets to decide which color jerseys they want to wear for the game. Although the designated home team will usually elect to wear their home jerseys in the Super Bowl, that's not always the case.
Super Bowl record by jersey color: How well have teams done in white jerseys?
There's a ton of superstition that surrounds jersey colors in the Super Bowl — and even teams buy into it. The 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who wore their white road jerseys throughout their postseason run, elected to wear their white jerseys in Super Bowl LV despite being the first team to play a Super Bowl in their home stadium.
Home-field advantage can significantly benefit teams during the season, but home jerseys have not fared well on the neutral Super Bowl field. Teams wearing white jerseys have won the championship 37 times in the past 58 Super Bowls (.637).
In Super Bowl history, the designated home team has won 24 times (.406). Since three of those Super Bowl champions opted to wear their white away jerseys, only 21 Super Bowl winners (.362) have worn their non-white jerseys. The longest winning streak for non-white jerseys lasted just three seasons, from 2001 to 2003, when New England (XXXVI, XXXVIII) and Tampa Bay (XXXVII) won in their traditional home uniforms. Since then, just four teams have won the Super Bowl in their home jerseys: the Packers (XLV), Eagles (LII), and Chiefs (LIV and LVIII).
Jersey color was mostly insignificant in the Super Bowl prior to 2004. Since then, teams that wore white have seen a staggering amount of success. In the past 20 years, teams in white jerseys have a 16-4 record (.800) in the Super Bowl. The only teams to lose in white jerseys in that span were the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV, the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII, and the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV and Super Bowl LVIII.
From 2004 to 2010, teams in white jerseys went on a six-game winning streak in the Super Bowl. That streak was broken by the Green Bay Packers, who wore their home jerseys when they defeated the Steelers after the 2011 season. The white jerseys enjoyed another six-game winning streak until 2017, when Philadelphia avenged their loss against the Patriots in 2004.
Super Bowl LIX jersey colors: Eagles, Chiefs Super Bowl history
Neither team in Super Bowl LIX seems to care about superstitions.
Despite losing in their midnight green jerseys during their previous Super Bowl, the Eagles are opting to wear them again for Super Bowl LIX. The Eagles have only worn their white road jerseys in one of five Super Bowl appearances in franchise history. They wore their home uniforms when they won their lone championship in Super Bowl LII.
The Chiefs will wear their road white jerseys in Super Bowl LIX. Despite the history, they opted to don their classic red home jerseys in Super Bowl LVIII. It worked out, as Kansas City pulled out a 25-22 victory in overtime against the San Francisco 49ers. They also wore their red jerseys during Super Bowl LIV, which resulted in a 31-20 victory over San Francisco. The Chiefs wore white road jerseys in their last Super Bowl matchup against the Eagles and came out on top with a 38-35 victory.
However, Kansas City’s lone Super Bowl loss — a 31-9 drubbing against Tom Brady — occurred in their red home jerseys.