NFL 'Color Rush' Game a Fumble for Color-Blind Fans
The teams' red and green uniforms were hard to differentiate for them.
— -- Thursday's NFL game between the New York Jets and the Buffalo Bills was hard to watch for many fans -- and not because of the plays.
The Jets dressed in green and the Bills in red as part of the NFL's "Color Rush" campaign, making it a nightmare for color-blind fans to differentiate the two teams as the Bills toppled the Jets at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
Former New York Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes, who is color-blind, was among those struggling to follow the game because of the uniforms' colors.
Others called watching the game a "chaos."
About 8 percent of men and 0.5 percent of women of European ancestry in the U.S. experience red-green color-blindness, according to the National Eye Institute, meaning they do not perceive colors the way others do, and aren't as aware of color differences as most. Red-green color-blindness is the most common type of color-blindness, followed by blue-green, according to the institute.
In a statement today, the NFL conceded that color-blindness had not been considered when the uniforms were tested.
"We did test the jerseys this summer on field and on television. The standard television test did not account for color blindness for fans at home that became apparent last night," the league said. "We will enhance our testing to include a color blindness analysis to better address this issue in the future."
The league unveiled the campaign uniforms for the Jets-Bills game last week. The organization said the monochromatic uniforms, designed by Nike, are meant to combine a current and historic uniform color as a way to unite the fan base and “honor each franchise." Thursday's game was the first of the campaign, but a sampling of the uniform colors will be used in four games this season before the full line-up rolls out in 2016. Next Thursday's game between the Tennessee Titans and the Jacksonville Jaguars will feature the uniforms again, blue for the Titans and gold for the Jaguars.
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