What was supposed to be simply the debut of a new line of jerseys turned into a few hours of confusion for hundreds of thousands watching Thursday Night Football yesterday, as the tones of two teams’ “Color Rush” uniforms were virtually identical to those suffering from colorblindness.
It was intended to be a contest of red (the Buffalo Bills) versus green (the New York Jets); but for those who fall under the umbrella diagnosis of color deficiency, last night’s contest was rendered a monotone battle of dark green versus dark green.
Thanks to Deadspin, we can all understand colorblind fans' struggle. The site put together a mock-up of what the contest looked like for those with the condition.
Roughly 8 percent of men and 0.5 percent of women reportedly suffer from colorblindness, and an average of 11.8 million people tuned into Thursday Night Football every week in 2014. If, for the sake of the argument, we say that those averages both held true last night and estimate that half the viewers were men and half women, then around 501,500 of those 11.8 million people wouldn’t have been able to distinguish between Buffalo and New York.
Moreover, if there are 1,696 men currently suiting up in the NFL (53 players per squad x 32 teams), then just about 136 of the league’s own players had to struggle to watch yesterday's matchup.
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