Involvement in club sports is an excellent opportunity in which many DU students participate. Club teams help fill a hole for those who don’t want to commit to a varsity sport, those whose activity isn’t an NCAA sport or those who simply want to try something new. With any university-endorsed activity, there are hoops to jump through and forms to fill. In particular, club sports are required to use uniforms that follow specific branding guidelines to prevent interference with DU’s obligations to the NCAA. While these guidelines are necessary, their current implementation undermine the efforts and large amount of time club officers must invest to organize their sports. DU needs to be more active in easing these restrictions on club sports.
The uniform guidelines are available for anybody to view and seem reasonable at first glance. There are rules about which logos to use and which colors are acceptable, so as to prevent alterations to any DU logos and ensure a sport doesn’t create their own uniform colors. Upon further reading, however, one feature of the guidelines becomes very clear: black is not allowed as the primary color in any type of apparel. As club sports must work through the extra restrictions of limited funding, this feature can be extremely difficult to navigate. Many apparel companies offer discounted uniforms only in specific colors, black included. While it may be easy to find uniforms for some club sports in the available colors (e.g. crimson t-shirts for club soccer), others have more difficulties. Imagine finding ski jackets and pants for an entire team in white. Can you see climbers ditching their black capris for climbing competitions? Clearly, this restriction is too burdensome for some sports.

There is another dilemma that arises with these guidelines: they are newly-enforced. In past years, some clubs may have been able to wear black as a primary uniform color without too much hassle. However, DU has been cracking down on apparel. Uniforms from past years may be confiscated or athletes may not be able to use them in public. This means many athletes cannot wear the club apparel that they have been purchasing for years. While some extra restrictions on club apparel are reasonable, the enforcement of this rule is absurd. Athletes should, at the very least, be allowed to wear their old apparel in public, especially during the transition period when clubs are switching over to non-black uniforms.

While there is much to object to with uniform guidelines, there is one bright spot: as of this year, club sports are allowed to use “Denver” on their uniforms. In previous years, “Pioneers” and “DU” were the only permissible logos. This change is a big step towards legitimacy, especially for sports that compete in a large region where “Pioneers” and “DU” may not be recognized by other teams and fans. This is an excellent step for DU, but more work needs to be done.

DU has an outstanding club sports program with a high level of student involvement. This makes it all-too-necessary to improve its uniform guidelines. If clubs cannot use the color black, exceptions to this rule should at least be approved. More importantly, athletes should be able to use previously-approved uniforms in public. DU is making progress towards allowing reasonable uniforms for clubs, but improvements need to be made at a faster rate.