New Orleans Saints Colors

In 1966, the National Football League (NFL) admitted the New Orleans Saints as its 16th franchise. This team drew its name from a fan contest and the awarding of the franchise on All Saints' Day (Nov. 1). The Saints chose black and gold as their colors --- representing the "black gold" of the oil industry --- and a fleur-de-lis (Lily) as their helmet symbol. The Saints have reconfigured these colors, along with white, in their various uniform styles.

  1. First Season

    • When the Saints took the field for their first home game against the Los Angeles Rams on Sept. 17, 1967, the players donned gold helmets, gold pants and black jerseys. A white stripe bordered on each side by black stripes ran down the center of the helmet from the top of the gray facemask to the back of the helmet where it met the neck. A similar stripe ran down the side of the gold pants and around the circumference of each jersey's sleeves. Each jersey bore white-outlined gold numbers and letters (for the player's name). Players sported white socks rimmed at the top with black and gold stripes. During the away games of this season, players wore white jerseys with black-outlined gold letters and numbers.

    Significant Changes

    • The Saints made few changes to the uniform in the franchise's early years. In 1968, the helmets, pants and sleeves reversed the tricolor stripe to a black stripe bordered by white on each side. Saints players donned black helmets with gold fleur-de-lys for the first game during the 1969 preseason --- after which the team reverted to its original helmet color scheme. Jerseys in 1970 switched from gold letters and numbers to white for black jerseys and vice versa. In 1975, the Saints began playing at the Louisiana Superdome--- where they still play in 2011 --- and added optional white pants the first season and black pants in 1976. The Saints jerseys switched back to the gold letters and numbers during subsequent, but not all, seasons.

    Home Game Colors

    • In 2002, the Saints donned gold jerseys with white-outlined black numbers and letters and black pants with a gold stripe running down the outside length for home games. A thick black band took up the upper calf portion of the white socks. Players also wore these socks during away games. The Saints' current helmet is gold for both home and away games and features a white-outlined black fleur-de-lis emblem on each side and a black-bordered white stripe running down the middle.

    Away Game Colors

    • Since 2002, the Saints have, with few exceptions, played their away games in white jerseys, gold pants with a single black stripe running down the outside length. These jerseys sport black letters outlined in white.

    Special Game Colors

    • The Saints occasionally wear different color configurations on their uniforms for special events. For a Halloween game played at home against the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2010, the Saints wore black pants with a black jersey and gold numbers and lettering. Players donned the gold helmets for that event. When the Saints played the NFL season opener in London in 2008, players also took the field in the all-black uniforms. For three games in the 1994 season, the Saints celebrated the NFL's 75th anniversary by wearing their original uniforms.