The New Kit: What might this year’s Colorado Rapids jersey look like?

Each year, the clubs in MLS replace one of their two kits (kit = jersey on the island of our former despotic overlords, the Brits). Last year, the Rapids made some changes to the burgundy kit, adding Adidas-style white stripes down the sides, which I liked. So that means for 2017, Colorado will be retiring the yellow kits that were introduced at the start of the 2015 season.

The yellow kit, with its blue accents and deep-red and blue badge, was meant to be a riff on the Colorado flag. Here’s a reminder.

Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

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So for a sense of my aesthetic style: me gusta (I like it). This is a great kit in that it uses a color that is unique, and in a shade that pops. The use of red as a badge accent really is different: it is quite hard to pull of these three colors together without either being garish or seemingly like a knockoff of the Colombia kit. But hey, you didn’t come here to listen to me talk about how great our last kit is. You want guesses as to the new one.

For starters, blue is out: at least blue, electric blue, and dark blue. Because the Rapids second kit before this one was blue. Light blue and navy might be allowed though.

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Photo by Rick Yeatts/Getty Images

Deshorn Brown in blue, June 7, 2014.

Here now are some potential kits the team might select. If past years are any indication, the big reveal will likely be in late February. I went through kits I like from FIFA 17, and picked out the most intriguing ones that aren’t simply burgundy, blue, or yellow.

I got some help here from fellow kit aficionado and snappy dresser herself, Storm In May. Feel free to pick your fave in the comments!

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Rapids Rabbi: First up is a blue and yellow kit, band in the middle. If 2013 was blue, and 2015 was yellow, then maybe 2017 is blue and yellow together? Throw in the Transamerica logo in that deep red from the 2015 alt kit badge, and you’ve got a spiff outfit. Sure, maybe going with the exact same colors as a fairly iconic team’s vintage kit is a bit underhanded. But hey, Barcelona did it when they stole FC Basel’s jersey colors. Yes, you read that right. Google it.

Storm In May: Love the blue and gold, always a good pairing. Hopefully the accompanying shorts are the same blue and not white; gold shorts might also look snazzy.

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Rapids Rabbi: I’ve been told that the Rapids had a white-with-red-accent kit before, but I’ve never seen it, and I think it’s a great way to go; again, even. We can’t go with red since our primary kit is burgundy. So any use of red will need to be against another color. And white is always a classy look. Add a v-neck and some red Adidas stripes for branding purposes, and you’ve got the third color in the Colorado flag checked off, but in a unique way.

Storm In May: Nice, but plain. Needs a sponsor logo or other interesting design.

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Rapids Rabbi: Sky blue with burgundy collar and sleeves looks really good. Some folks on twitter have commented that some of our nearby rivals have several of these colors. Right. It’s an alternate kit, so that should be ok. This kit shares its primary color with the uniforms of both Sporting Kansas City and NYCFC. But I think putting the burgundy back on the alternate in a sparing way, especially against a light blue, looks good.

Storm In May: Love the light blue, but the sponsor logo text is hard to read on it. I love the trim colors, though.

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Rapids Rabbi: Say it with me: diagonal sash. Peru does it, and I love it. This here is River Plate, Boca Juniors most bitter rivals in Buenos Aires. If the Rapids went with this and either a red or a blue diagonal sash, that’d be sharp as hell. No I don’t know where the sponsor logo goes. That’s someone else’s problem.

Storm In May: Red and white, a classic combo. The diagonal stripe across looks very royal.

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Rapids Rabbi: A vertical double stripe here. Imagine the Rapids doing something like this with that electric blue as the thick stripe and yellow or red as the thin stripe. Emma, however, is a hater.

Storm In May: The off-center stripe is throwing me off. Otherwise, it's pretty plain.

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Rapids Rabbi: Pink. Nobody in MLS has pink. Nobody in MLS has EVER done pink (to my knowledge). Go pink with red or burgundy at the collar and sleeve. Swap the bull in the bad imprint out altogether. Or put the Rocky Mountain silhouette in there. Or Bluecifer. That’d be cool.

Storm In May: Ew. Pink. No. No no no no no.

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Rapids Rabbi: OK, bear with me. At first, you were like: NO. NO NO NO. But consider that a) the Rapids have a long running partnership with the military, and could really make a nod in their direction in a cool way, and b) this is the most in-demand kit in FIFA 17. Do the camo pattern in red, or blue, or even green, and you’ve got a really cool, really unique kit. Of course, all camo is not equal. If they went with the wrong pattern, I fully acknowledge this could be a train wreck.

Storm In May: I like red, but camo? Not a huge fan. (Side note: I literally just threw an old shirt that looked just like this one in our "Goodwill" bag.)

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Rapids Rabbi: This one is less about the color combination than it is about the idea: three colors, a la the USMNT bomb pop jersey, which I love. Think a brighter, Colorado blue, a red band like you see above, and white. I especially like the fluidity of the colors matching from the shoulders and body out to the sleeves. Personally, this is my favorite for a secondary Rapids kit.

Storm In May: Meh color combination. The color blocking would be a nicer touch if they'd used different colors.

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Rapids Rabbi: A lot of people want the Rapids to do a throwback kit: either a green kit to hearken back to the Rapids of 1997-2001, or a blue and black stripes kit from those middle years. If you’re gonna go throwback, it has to be a ‘nod’ to the past, not a full-on resurrection of an old kit. So here’s something kind of wild: four panels WITH wacky grey stripes. This might be too much. But it’s certainly more toned-down than the infamous Colorado Caribous jersey*. I really don’t like it, but I thought I’d throw a green one out there.

Storm In May: I actually kinda like this one; green is nice (and underutilized), and the pattern is unique.

There it is. Which one would you most prefer to see in 2017 on our Colorado Rapids?

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(I love how Drew Moor is trying to look all hard while rocking a 70’s lapel & faux leather fringe.)