A Banner Year to Come

Per Uni Watch, we now know that the Packers will be partaking in at least three league-wide uniform promotions this season.

First up is the NFL's annual Brest Cancer Awareness festival. Every week in October, as they have since 2009, players will wear pink accessories on the field. Stadiums will be draped in pink banners, and helmets will be festooned with NFL shield/pink-ribbon decals. For the Packers, that means October 7th in Indianapolis, October 14th in Houston, October 21st in St. Louis, and home on the 28th against Jacksonville. I expect pink gloves and shoes to continue to play a major role in this promotion, as they have been a particular point of focus since Nike took over the contract.

The next event will be the "Salute to Service", held in November. For Weeks 9, 10 & 11 (that's November 4th against the Cardinals and November 18th at Detroit; week 10 is the Packers' bye week), NFL stadiums will pay tribute to the troops. In addition to a fundraising initiative, we can expect goal post wrappers, end zone paint, players will be wearing a special NFL shield/digi-camo ribbon decal on the back of their helmets. The "Salute to Service" promotion was introduced last season, but didn't extend to the helmets. That changes in 2012.

Finally, the NFL will be marking the 50th Anniversary of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. During Weeks 14 and 15 (with the Packers hosting Detroit on December 9th and at the Bears on December 16th), teams will wear a commemorative Pro Football Hall of Fame patch. By this, I presume they mean on the left breast, the traditional spot for a jersey patch. The Packers have a special connection to the Hall of Fame; although not represented at the original formation of the League in 1920 at Ralph Hay's auto showroom, Curly Lambeau's men joined the League in its sophomore season and have been fixtures ever since. The Packers currently boast twenty-one players and coaches enshrined in Canton, more than anyone save the Bears, and that inaugural Class of 1963 included four men of Green Bay.

And there you have it. Of the thirteen remaining games on the Packers' 2012 schedule, nine of them are scheduled to involve uniform markers as part of one of these league-wide events.