When it comes to an event as massive as the Super Bowl—which has had an audience of more than 100 million in 12 of the last 15 years—every single thing involved with the game gets an extra dose of attention. Thus, something as simple as a team choosing what color jerseys it will wear for Super Bowl 59 has generated headlines.
The Chiefs jerseys contain a commemorative Super Bowl LIX patch on the right chest plate, with a patch signifying that they are the AFC Champions on the left chest plate. The latter contains the initials “LH” which is short for Lamar Hunt, as not only is the AFC Championship Game Trophy known as the Lamar Hunt Trophy, but the namesake is the founder of the Chiefs franchise.
Even though Kansas City first made the public announcement on their jersey color, it’s the Eagles who actually had the first choice on what kits they will wear on Sunday, Feb. 9. That’s because Philly is the designated home team, as the league rotates between the AFC and NFC participants for the home team designation.
The 2025 Super Bowl is a rematch of the 2023 Super Bowl, and the teams are also donning the exact same jersey colors that they wore two years ago. Kansas City prevailed 38–35 in those away whites, with Chiefs Kingdom hoping for a similar result this time around. During the Andy Reid–Patrick Mahomes era in Kansas City, that is the only prior Super Bowl, among their four appearances, in which they wore the away whites. When they wore their red jerseys in the other three games, they had a 2–1 record.
The very first Super Bowl, which originally didn’t have a number or Roman numeral attached, but is retroactively known as Super Bowl I, featured the Chiefs against the Green Bay Packers. The league didn’t give home teams the option of what jersey color they wanted to wear back then, but the Chiefs, as the designated road team, also wore all-white uniforms in a 35–10 loss to Green Bay.
Meanwhile, this is the fourth appearance for the Eagles in The Big Game since Jeffrey Lurie took ownership of the team more than 30 years ago, and wearing green continues a tradition. Philadelphia will wear green for the fourth time amongst those four Super Bowl appearances, going 1–2 ahead of Super Bowl 59.
From a broader standpoint, the team wearing white jerseys has almost a 2:1 winning advantage over teams wearing non-white jerseys in the Super Bowl. Those wearing white jerseys have won 37 of the previous 58 Super Bowls, or nearly 64 percent of games, whereas those wearing non-white jerseys have won 21 times, or roughly 36 percent.
In recent years, it has been even more so in favor of those wearing white uniforms. Over the last two decades, white away jersey-wearing teams are 16–4 in the Super Bowl. However, the two participants in this year’s game account for three of those four victories in colored uniforms. The Eagles defeated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII in the green uniforms, while the Chiefs defeated the 49ers, both in Super Bowl LIV and Super Bowl LVIII, wearing their red uniforms.
The two central figures wearing their respective teams’ jerseys are the quarterbacks in Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts. They, of course, met two years ago in The Big Game, making Super Bowl LIX the fourth time that opposing quarterbacks will face off multiple times in the game.
It first happened with Terry Bradshaw of the Pittsburgh Steelers versus Roger Staubach of the Dallas Cowboys (Super Bowl X and Super Bowl XIII), both won by Bradshaw and Pittsburgh. Then there was Troy Aikman of the Dallas Cowboys versus Jim Kelly of the Buffalo Bills (Super Bowl XXVII and Super Bowl XXVIII), both won by Aikman and Dallas. Lastly, it was Eli Manning of the New York Giants versus Tom Brady of the New England Patriots (Super Bowl XLII and Super Bowl XLVI), both won by Manning and New York.
Chiefs’ fans are undoubtedly hoping this streak involving the winner of the first Super Bowl meeting winning again in the rematch will continue with the 2025 Super Bowl. However, the Eagles are hoping donning the green brings them good luck, and that the trend of no three-peats in Super Bowl history is still alive after Feb. 9.
