SANTA CLARA, Calif. — As the designated home team, the Broncos have elected to wear their white uniforms in Super Bowl 50 against the Carolina Panthers. The NFC champion Panthers will wear black jerseys and silver pants.
The home/away designation flips by conference each year. This year the AFC champion is considered the home team.
“We’ve had Super Bowl success in our white uniforms, and we’re looking forward to wearing them again in Super Bowl 50,” said Executive Vice President of Football Operations and General Manager John Elway (who just happens to have been named Most Valuable Player in Super Bowl XXXIII).
The Broncos won their last Super Bowl in those white jerseys in Super Bowl XXXIII, which was played Jan. 31, 1999. The Broncos were 6-2 on the road this year, tying a franchise record for the most road wins in a season.
This will be the Broncos’ seventh Super Bowl appearance under owner Pat Bowlen, Broncos associate editor Ben Swanson pointed out, tying for the most in the NFL during his 32 years of ownership.
According to Bryan Strickland, senior writer for the Carolina Panthers, the Broncos did something pretty rare in choosing to wear white.
“For the first 12 Super Bowls, the NFL designated that the home team wear their colored jerseys while the road team wore white,” Strickland wrote on the Panthers’ website. “Beginning with Super Bowl XIII in 1979, the home team was given the option to choose its colors, and Denver is just the fifth home team in 38 games to select white.”
Strickland said that the Panthers could not have chosen to wear their blue jerseys because the NFL does not allow alternate jerseys to be used in the Super Bowl.