On Tuesday morning, the Baltimore Ravens revealed an all-new “Purple Rising” alternate helmet, featuring an oft-forgotten logo on the side. The helmet will be worn for one game this season and will be paired with Baltimore’s purple color rush uniforms, which feature more gold accents than the primary home uniforms.
A look at the Ravens’ alternate helmets that they will wear for one game this season: pic.twitter.com/KyRvuUQL1b
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 18, 2024
Already, the new helmet seems to have some fans within the organization. Tight end Mark Andrews described it as “bad-ass,” while receiver Zay Flowers said “I know we look sweet, I don’t even have to see it on camera,” per BaltimoreRavens.com.
During an appearance on “The Lounge” podcast, Ravens senior vice president of marketing Brad Downs detailed the design process for the Ravens’ newest look.
“We pay attention to all of that feedback from the fans, to really try to land on something they’re going to love,” Downs said. “I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time. We know our fans have clamored for it. They just like new stuff. But our uniforms have a nice traditional feel and we’ve had a lot success in them. We don’t want to be that team that changes all the time. We like the tradition that we’ve built.
“We’ve thought about this for years. I think I had at least 14 options of helmets, and that doesn’t even include swapping decals, locals, stripes. We narrowed it down to two, and this is the direction that we went.”
Despite the Ravens being around for nearly 30 years, this is just their third helmet in franchise history. They wore their original black helmet featuring a gold shield logo from 1996-1998, then moved to the design fans still know and love today back in 1999.
Seeing the Ravens wear a differently-colored helmet for the first time in franchise history will undoubtedly be jarring for some,but Downs believes fans will grow to love it.
“Seeing the players’ reaction was pretty cool,” Downs said. “A little bit of validation, because you never know. There’s going to be people that wanted a white version, that wanted a different black version, maybe wanted a gold version. It’s a bit validating to see their reaction, it’s cool.”
