While global suppliers of color wrestle with Covid outbreaks and labor shortages due to illness and death, U.S sports teams that rely on these colors are left empty-handed and worry for the future.
At a strip mall bar in Northglenn, Colorado, Lorenzo Garcia expressed despair in his vintage Jay Cutler jersey, torn and faded by time -- it wasn't a popular jersey when Cutler played for the team, but it's all Garcia could find. He's a lifelong Denver Broncos fan.
The supply chain disruptions have sent teams at all levels of sport on a desperate, cut-throat search for new sources as they scramble to salvage what’s left of their seasons.
Some have even drawn up plans to address what team leaders suspect might be a permanent state of scarcity in the ultraviolet spectrum.
The problem affects every game, both professional and collegiate, with a staggering two-thirds of the National Football League incorporating at least one of these colors in their programs.
For Major League Baseball, the number is closer to 76 percent, and more than 60 percent of the National Basketball Association require the colors to rock the house.
But some NFL fans say they feel the most intense misery.
At a strip mall bar in Northglenn, Colorado, Lorenzo Garcia expressed despair in his vintage Jay Cutler jersey, torn and faded by time -- it wasn't a popular jersey when Cutler played for the team, but it's all Garcia could find. He's a lifelong Denver Broncos fan.
‘This has been brutal,’ he said. ‘Broncos fans know we’ve have had a rough time of it already with all that Brock Osweiler and Joe Flacco crap. And now this.’
Team managers are considering converting color schemes to shades of beige, brown, or gray, with some even trying ‘color blind’ options similar to that of the Las Vegas Raiders. It's an idea Garcia calls 'unthinkable.'
'That's some seriously depraved bull****,' he said.
Other ideas include using QR codes printed on helmets and jerseys so fans can scan the codes with their smartphones to display a list of colors published on the internet.
Owners are optimistic there's a bright side.
‘The shortage will be here for a long time,’ said one owner, who insisted anonymity due to him being such a major league pussy. ‘This could be the new normal to save costs and preserve the profitability of our beloved sports industry.’
Ticket and merchandise prices will remain the same, with increases likely in the future, he added.
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