Do the Kansas City Chiefs have an alternate uniform?

The Kansas City Chiefs are a traditional team when it comes to their uniforms. Fans know what to expect when it comes to what the team will be wearing on game day. If it's a home game, the Chiefs are almost always going to roll with their classic red jerseys and white pants. If it's an away game and the home team wears their typical uniforms, the Chiefs go with white jerseys and red pants.

Fans who aren't as familiar with the team might be wondering what the Chiefs' alternate uniforms look like before realizing that the team doesn't have one. While most of the other teams in the NFL have an alternate jersey whether it be a throwback or another color they can play off of, the Chiefs have always stuck with red home jerseys and white away jerseys.

Why don't the Chiefs have an alternate uniform?

Phil Hecken of UniWatch did a piece on the Chiefs' uniforms in July of 2024 and noted that the franchise's uniforms have barely changed since entering the football world in the 1960s.

"Aside from changing their helmets when they moved to Kansas City and became the Chiefs, about all that’s changed over the years have been minor changes, like adding stripes or changing facemask colors. The addition of red pants was about as dramatic a change as the team’s uniforms have ever seen."

When the NFL began the Color Rush experiment for the 2016 season, the Chiefs were one of the few teams who opted not to do anything creative for it. Hecken mentions in his article that KC was asked about an all-gold uniform but didn't want to play ball and instead stuck with the all-red look that debuted in 2015. The Chiefs still wear the red-on-red and white-on-white for key primetime games and that's about as off-the-wall the team ever gets in the uniform department.

When it comes to why the Chiefs don't want to switch it up, the answer is that the Chiefs brass values the traditional look that the team dons. Chiefs president Mark Donovan has previously said he's asked about switching up the look but was originally met with a resounding "No". He did say that while the response a few years ago wasn't as swift, it'd take something major to get the team to budge on rocking something non-traditional.

As for possible ideas that the Chiefs could use for an alternate jersey, all you have to do is Google "Chiefs alternate jersey" to see what fans have come up with. A common one is a gold jersey that fans have been able to purchase on NFL Shop in the past. Another popular one is a black jersey, which is available to purchase from Rallyhouse. The Chiefs have also made dark gray jerseys available for fans to purchase on Fanatics.

Out of these options, the black feels like the least likely to happen since it'd remind fans too much of the Raiders. The gold is the boldest choice but would make the most sense given it's in the Chiefs' color scheme. Any other color choice would be confusing and that's probably why the team hasn't dove into an alternate idea. If done incorrectly, you'll be memed for years to come (much like the Jaguars have been for their awful Color Rush look).

We'll have to see if the team ventures away from the traditional look and branches out into something different. Don't count on that happening anytime soon, however.