The Yankees are one of 10 teams still waiting to don City Connect jerseys. Will the Bronx Bombers ever wear a City Connect uniform?
MLB introduced the special line of "City Connect" uniforms in 2021 with the promise that all 30 teams in the league would eventually take part.
Those jerseys have been hit and miss, depending on your perspective. But they've also become part of the MLB experience. The release of each new City Connect style has brought with it online debates over whether the designers got it right.
The city of New York, well known for large and opinionated fanbases, hasn't had the City Connect experience yet. And at least one of the two New York teams doesn't sound like it's planning to.
Will Yankees have a City Connect uniform?
On Wednesday, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner talked about the concept of a Yankees City Connect jersey on The Michael Kay Show, H/T Uni-Watch.
I'm not having any serious conversations about doing it. I think I understand the reason [behind the CC program] — and again, I think it appeals to a lot of fans, especially younger fans, and you know, merchandise and all that. But we have not had any serious conversations about doing it. It doesn't mean I won't [do it] someday, but I don't even know how that would look, quite frankly. I don't even know what the look would be.
So far, 20 MLB teams have worn City Connect uniforms with the Yankees, Mets, Athletics, Blue Jays, Cardinals, Guardians, Rays, Tigers and Twins representing the remaining clubs who still have to release one.
In the first two seasons of the City Connect era, Nike released seven new uniforms at a time. This season they dropped six. So it stands to reason that the 2024 slate of CC jerseys will include at least half of the remaining teams.
However, if the Yankees haven't even begun to have discussions about a new uniform, it doesn't sound likely they'll be ready to go by next year.
Having said that, it's hard to imagine MLB and Nike will sit there and let the Yankees be the only team to just opt out of the whole project. There's too much money to be made for New York to keep holding out.
