Third jersey

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Third jersey" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

A third jersey, alternative jersey, third kit, third sweater or alternative uniform is a jersey or uniform that a sports team can wear instead of its home outfit or its away outfit during games, often when the colors of two competing teams' other uniforms are too similar to contrast easily.

Alternative jerseys are a lucrative means for professional sports organizations to generate revenue, by sales to fans. Of North American sports leagues, the National Football League generates $1.2 billion annually in jersey sales, with the National Basketball Association second, selling $900 million annually.^[1] Another use of the alternative uniform is for identifying with causes, like the Central Coast Mariners wear an alternative pink kit on pink ribbon day.^[2][3]

Extra alternative uniforms or fourth and fifth kits are not commonly used, but are sometimes required when teams' other uniforms cause color clashes, or the uniforms are unavailable to use. In cases where teams have worn more than three kits in the same season, the extra kits were usually recycled from previous seasons.

Third-choice jerseys or uniforms are used in all four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada.

Third kits are commonplace in professional European association football and in some professional European rugby union clubs. Alternative uniforms are common in Australia's two biggest domestic leagues, the Australian Football League (Aussie rules) and National Rugby League (rugby league).