Uh-oh, Kansas City Royals fans think team whiffed on new City Connect uniforms
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Royals unveiled a new City Connect uniform called “Forever Fountains” on Thursday.
- Fan reaction to the Royals’ new City Connect design was mixed on social media.
- Criticism included the color scheme and helmet design among other complaints.
If the Royals had their way, the players would wear their now-retired City Connect uniforms at every Friday home game.
But Major League Baseball requires that teams come up with a new City Connect “look” every few years. So fans on Thursday got their first official glimpse of the newest iteration, which the Royals call “Forever Fountains.”
The reaction was, well, not kind.
“Those uniforms look like clown suits,” one fan wrote in an email to The Star, “not baseball uniforms.”
Some fans liked the 2.0 City Connect design, which will be worn for the first time Friday night. The uniforms were designed by Nike and MLB in partnership with the Royals.
“I’m such a huge Royals fan and partial season ticket holder,” a fan named Eric Kolkmeyer wrote on X. “I hate these with every fiber of my being. I own and wear the previous city connect jersey and these are hideous. I guess they are targeting the female audience with these? But I’m a hard pass.”
The fashion-forward color scheme is drawing the most ire.
“Featuring a fuchsia gradient into blue, the uniform’s color treatment is a nod to the tones of a Midwestern summer sunset and the blue of water flowing through Kansas City’s more than 200 fountains,” according to MLB.com.
Those are fashionable wedding hues. Check Pinterest and that combo is considered romantic and luxe, perfect for summer nuptials.
For sports uniforms? There’s a school of psychology behind why teams wear bolder colors on the color wheel — hues that scream vitality, energy, power and strength.
The quirky “dynamic duo” of fuchsia with blue was a top trend on several Spring 2026 runways.
Here’s a look at some of the other new City Current uniforms players will be wearing around the majors this year. Red on the Texas Rangers. Black and gold with red accents on the Pittsburgh Pirates.
A Royals official said privately that the new uniforms would probably be embraced more by female fans.
And yet, many women have voiced their displeasure about them.
“Well, my Mom just sent me a text and she hates them,” a fan wrote on X. “So there are some just not liking them.”
A fan named Jules wrote: “And, just think…they paid someone to create this design.”
“Strongly dislike the colors,” wrote Marilyn Hillman on X.
When a uniform is completely built from scratch, there are probably going to be elements of it that fans dislike. The colors, for instance, were essentially taken from the City of Kansas City’s official flag.
Some fans, however, thought it was a nod to another flag: the bisexual flag.
“Any other color and they could have my money,” one fan wrote on X.
Another shared this: “Great design, awful colors.”
Others hated on the helmets.
“Fine with the uniform, like it even,” a fan named Jake Keiser wrote. “That helmet needs another pass in conceptual design though.”
Another shared this: “Truly the worst helmet I’ve ever seen.”
Fans also got to show off their creative side on social media with their reaction to the uniforms. Here are some clever responses.
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