SEATTLE -- Nike City Connect uniforms are coming to Seattle ... and soon.
Here’s everything to know about the big unveiling:
What is City Connect?
Through a partnership between MLB and Nike, City Connect is an initiative to celebrate the relationships between the teams and the regions that host and support them. Beginning in 2021, Nike has worked with each MLB team to craft a uniform that expresses the personality and communities of the team's home city. In the Mariners’ case, it encompasses the five-state Pacific Northwest region.
Nike, as it did upon taking over as the uniform supplier for the NFL and NBA, has made radical uniform-design changes as alternates to each team’s traditional look. And despite baseball’s traditionalist nature, it’s taken off.
“Over the course of its first two seasons, the Nike MLB City Connect Series has been the most successful consumer product initiative we’ve ever had,” MLB chief revenue officer Noah Garden said recently.
When will the Mariners unveil theirs?
The Mariners, who are among six clubs that will make their City Connect debut in 2023, will unveil their unique look on Friday at T-Mobile Park. They will don them on the field for the first time when they return from their three-city road trip and take on the Astros the following Friday, May 5. They will then wear them for every Friday home game the rest of the season.
How can fans purchase City Connect merchandise?
The Mariners Team Stores -- at T-Mobile Park and downtown -- will be exclusive Seattle retail locations for the Nike Seattle Mariners City Connect jerseys and caps until May 5. Both stores will open early on Friday, with the ballpark location opening at 9 a.m. PT and downtown location at 10 a.m. PT.
Are there any celebrations in conjunction with Seattle’s City Connect?
At T-Mobile Park’s Team Store, there will be a live DJ throughout Friday, as well as prizes, photo ops for fans and more. Hatback Bar & Grille and Steelheads Alley, located across the street from the ballpark, will offer 20% off to fans wearing Nike Seattle Mariners City Connect gear all day on Friday. Free parking will be provided at the Mariners Garage from Friday through Sunday.
When the Mariners host Houston on May 5 -- which will assuredly feature added buzz as an AL West matchup and rematch from last year’s postseason -- fans will have the opportunity to take their photo in front of a custom Mariners City Connect backdrop that will be at the ballpark for the entirety of the homestand, located on the lower concourse. Those participating fans will also have the chance to enter to win a custom replica Nike Seattle Mariners City Connect Jersey.
That Saturday, May 6, the Mariners will participate in the Opening Day of boating season parade on the Montlake Cut with a Mariners City Connect-themed vessel featuring Harold Reynolds, the Mariner Moose and Mariners Navigators.
Also that afternoon, the club will host an event on Pier 62 downtown in partnership with Fanatics, beginning at 11 a.m. PT to celebrate the launch. It will run through the end of that night’s Mariners game, which will be shown on a massive videoboard. There, fans will be able to purchase their own City Connect gear, enjoy food trucks, giveaways, photo opportunities, hear live beats spun by a local DJ and more. The Mariner Moose and Reynolds will be on-site throughout the day, as well.
What else is there to know?
We’ll have more details about the origin of the look and the uniform itself when the club reveals everything on Friday -- so stay tuned.