Bucks can’t wear ‘Cream City’ jerseys during games due to television glitch

The Milwaukee Bucks introduced their “Cream City” uniforms during the 2019-20 season and the combination became very popular with the team’s fanbase. After all, the jerseys paid homage to Milwaukee’s early architecture, which led to it earning the nickname “Cream City.”

However, the team hasn’t worn those particular jerseys for quite some time.

Following the Bucks unveiling their latest NBA “City Edition” jersey for the 2022-23 season, Bucks chief marketing officer Dustin Godsey tweeted that the franchise was unable to bring back the “Cream City” jerseys — despite fans clamoring for them. In an interview with UniWatch, Godsey revealed that the Bucks can’t wear the “Cream City” jerseys because they interfere with technology that is used for digitally inserted, on-court advertisements that are only seen on the television broadcasts.

Godsey stated that the Bucks first noticed the issue with the “Cream City” jersey while playing in the bubble at Walt Disney World during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. 

“So we wore the ‘Cream City’ uniform for a game in the bubble — I think it was Aug. 2, 2020. Because of the unique situation there, with every game being played on a neutral site, teams were able to digitally put their arena naming rights onto the court during their local TV broadcasts,” Godsey told UniWatch’s Paul Lukas. “And because of that, in that first game of wearing cream down in the bubble, we started to realize it was kind of like the meteorologist wearing a green shirt while standing in front of the green screen — a pixelation effect.”

Because of the adverse affect the “Cream City” jerseys had on the league’s digital advertising, the NBA and its partners were forced to ban the cream color from every team’s uniform.

Godsey hopes that there’s something that can be done down the road to solve this issue from a technology standpoint. However, for now, there won’t be any cream-colored jerseys for any NBA teams.