I actually liked last year’s blue. We could stick with that, and i’d be happy too. I just think green is more accepted because there are so few schools that have THAT color green. Tons of schools have some form of blue or a yellow, but very few have green at all and Sparty is about the only other one with green in that darkness.

Yes, our school colors are Blue and Gold. But come on, of course Green is acceptable for the Fightin’ Irish. If they settle on any one of the three and make it permanent, I will be happy.

1 – Unified color for 5 years. While I’m definitely a fan of the idea of having one color, I can still see an issue when you get hires that come so close to each other. Example: Had this rule been around during the Bob Davie era, he would have had one color, then 3 years with Willingham, then Weis comes around. I’d be more of a proponent of a 10 year “color of the decade” that is set, and which can be reevaluated upon the next decade. I’m not sure I’m a fan of the coach deciding, either — I’d rather see the committee that helps design and market the shirt pick that color, to give a better swath of people with an eye on current trends instead of the coach — or any one person — saying something akin to “Let’s go with green, with a higlight from Rudy in screenprint”.

(Sidebar: School colors are Blue and Gold. Those should be the options, not Green or anything else.)

2 – Having The Shirt available in long-sleeve and/or sweatshirt (hoodie?) styles would definitely be a plus. Were Notre Dame down in, say, Alabama, there wouldn’t really be a need for anything other than a t-shirt. But having been raised in South Bend, and on campus during football season for my 4 wonderful undergraduate years, I can say with confidence that I have been in everything from sunburn-inducing heat to near-frostbite cold so I could cheer on the Fighting Irish. Maybe a “combo pack” where you can buy one, the other, or both would be a viable option.

Also, I wish you would add to the petition a bit more about the supportive environment that we fans (alumni and sub-alumni) will create for the project. We have supported The Shirt for years and would do anything to make it be successful long-term. We WANT to support the worthwhile charity initiatives that The Shirt engages in, but it makes it hard when we have such an issue with the changing colors every year.

Only one complaint…do we REALLY have to put the petition on freaking “change dot org?” Gag.

I agree with you. I challenge the logic that says that color changes drive sales, not the importance of the fund uses. I am not at all advocating we end funding those causes to get the stadium united. I think sales will be better with unification. And if not, I offer a number of ways to make up for the shortfall. Wins = Sales. Color is on the periphery. Especially with the ugly-ass colors chosen in recent years. If anything, the ‘creativity’ is HURTING SALES. Not the other way around.

The problem is that they are thinking they are going to ‘do things differently this year’ to get everyone to rally THIS YEAR around THIS YEAR’S color. This will NEVER EVER HAPPEN. Too many people come from different places at different times to make this work. It will only work over time, with consistency from year to year to year. It won’t happen AT ALL if they try to make the entire stadium consistent with one color in ’12, and another in ’13. No way. But that’s what they think they’re going to do. Not gonna work.

Like you, I would love to have one, united color spread around the stadium. I often make fun of the crowd color for being “distinctly indistinct.” Seriously, while there is no defined color, couldn’t you pick that mesh of green, blue, gray, gold and white out from anywhere? I actually think the biggest problem is that it gets cold too early and not many people own Kelly green winter jackets.

When I was at ND, I had the honor of serving on the school’s Financial Advisory Board. One of the most important responsibilities of the FAB is allocating money gained from selling The Shirt to students with unaffordable, serious health issues. I don’t want to get all sappy here, but the (sometimes life saving) burden that is lifted off the shoulders of these students and their families is truly unbelievable.

In your first article, you say one of the purposes is “raising money for some important student funds.” I don’t think enough emphasis is placed here on how truly vital this money is to some Notre Dame students and their families. Some of the stories I heard on the FAB were heartbreaking, and one of the beautiful things about The Shirt is that the money gained from sales can give these stories a happy ending.

That being said – it is only worth changing the color every year if it actually does increase shirt sales and raise more money for these amazing causes. You make a good point that their sample size on this is questionable. To me, the money gained (if it actually is) by new Shirt colors is too important to pass up.