Rapids Kit Rankings Home Top 10

Time to finish this series up with the top 10 home kits!  I pre-ranked all the kits before starting this series but as I was writing them up I found myself making slight changes.  No part of the list changed more than this 10 though, I made changes all the way up to #3 while writing this.  The top 2 were always locked in though.

#10 - 2016-2017

The first kit with a legitimate jersey sponsor (ciao Ciao!) and a good team to go with it.  Nice and clean but doing nothing with the burgundy means that it can't go much higher than this.  I do like that Transamerica didn't demand a bright red logo on the front to match their company colors.

#9 - 2018 - 2019

Minimal changes form the prior jut but making the sleeves burgundy and all the trim light blue instead of the light blue/white mix makes this one the better of the two

#8 - 2024-2025

The checkered flag design, I like finally giving the burgundy some kind of design but this trends closely to one of those optical illusion images.  The light blue really pops on this one though.  Hard to believe we went to the 'Colorful Colorado' kits from this unfortunately.

#7 - 2001-2002

The true 'Aquaman' kits.  Super tight and green.  Our last green home kit ever, we wouldn't really get Rapids green back until last year's 3rd kit.  Also the final Kappa kit.  Given their skin-tight nature I had to take a pass on these for my personal collection.  This was the point where the Rapids switched from white at home and green on the road to the reverse, something they've kept through all their color combinations since (until, arguably, this season where they're black at home and green on the road).

#6 - 1996

The original.  Its hard to not put this in the top 5 but overall I thought the road kit was better.  The stripes on the shoulders just don't work for me as well as they should.  Still its a classic 90's style kit and that can't be ignored.

#5 2009-2010

I gave this a one spot boost because we won MLS Cup in this kit.  We'll always have the great memories of Casey scoring while seated and Kandji sacrificing his ACL for the MLS Cup winning goal in this shirt.  To say nothing of Drew Moor's last second clearance.  I don't love the collar on it but that's not enough to downgrade it from its importance in team history.  

#4 - 1997-1998

The kits just kept getting better in the early years.  This gave us the first use of the round badge but avoided duplication by moving the wave badge to the center of the chest.  The later 2006 road kit would be inspired by this one but this was the better version of it.  It removed the old gold color from the sleeves that stood out in a bad way to me on the first kit.

#3 - 2022-2023

Almost my top burgundy kit, I really like this one.  The sublimated mountains on this kit are great and the Colorado 'C' as the jock tag is a nice touch.  This is my current burgundy kit for game days and its going to take a lot for the 2028-2029 kit to replace it.

#2 - 2013

This, of course, had to be the top burgundy kit.  Its also the reason we have had 18 home kits but only 17 road kits.  for one season the Rapids wore this kit with the dark bands, when looking closer at the bands you'll see they're made up of a list of names.  Those were the season-ticket holders of the Rapids (the band across the chest just says 'Colorado Rapids' repeated, in case they had managed to sing a jersey sponsor, that way nobody's name would have been covered.  They didn't sign one).  My name is in the lower band across the belly.  The Rapids were at least one of the first, if not the first, clubs in the world to place their ticket holder names on the kit and it was well received.  Hard to downgrade a kit that has your name on it!

#1 - 1999-2000

There was never a doubt this one (and its away partner) were going to end up on the top of my lists.  This was the kit the team used for the first full season I followed them, it was the first kit I bought ( a signed one from a trip to Dallas that still hangs in my office) and its the one I think of when I think of "classic Rapids" like 'Celo, JDV, Agogo, Limpar, and Hahnemann, among others.  More of a throwback to this is what last year's 3rd kit should have been.

So, there it is, all 40 kits ranked.  If I had to choose a combined top 5:

1999-200 Home

1999-2000 Away

2013 Home

2025 Third

2022-2023 Home

Back this weekend with some review of World Cup kits before we transition back into the season next week.

We Interrupt This Kit Blog With An Update On Rapids News

As we get close to MLS games starting again its time to get caught up on a couple of pieces of Rapids news before we finish out the kit part of the summer.

The most significant news, which still isn't high, is that Ian Murphy was traded to San Diego FC for Charlotte's second round pick next year that San Diego had acquired in a previous trade.  There's also $100K of GAM if performance metrics are meant and we keep part of his budget charge.

This is really shifting the deck chairs.  Murphy clearly wasn't in Wells' plans and a second round pick and a little GAM won't amount to much in the end.  But it frees up a roster spot.  Its also probably an indicator that Herrington isn't going anywhere this window as that would leave us awfully thin at CB.  This ends the 2024-2025 move of sending $1M plus $200K of performance incentive GAM to  Cinci for Awaziem and Murphy.  In the end that got us a few starts from Awaziem, a $1.7M transfer fee (a small portion of which went back to Cinci) and a 2nd round pick.  We didn't lose anything but I'm not sure how much we got out of that trade either.

Speaking of Herrington, the rumored list of teams interested in him has expanded to almost every major name in Europe.  Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Milan, etc.  Oddly not Arsenal though, given the shared owner.  Reports are that the Rapids have put a $25 million price tag on him and are asking for a 12-month loan back (through the sprint season) as part of the deal.  At this point he might be sold in this window, but I'd be a little surprised to see him leave in this window.  Safe bet that by this time next year he will no longer be in Commerce City though.

Two other roster moves, Manyoma has officially returned from loan with his purchase option declined, as previously reported.  Loic Williams joined the team in training a couple of weeks ago and played in the friendly Thursday night against FC Juarez.  He could be officially registered as a Rapids player yesterday and presumably was, so he should be eligible for next Wednesday's game.

Finally the FC Juarex game was a 1-1 draw after the first 90 minutes, then the teams agreed to play another 30 mintues that ended scoreless.  Both teams got very chippy during that extra time though, so much so that Rafa Navarro was sent off and the ref called the game before being convinced to restart it about 10 minutes later.  In case anyone is worried, red cards in friendlies are not carried over anywhere, though safe to say this matchup may not be repeated next summer.

Back to finish off the Rapids kits later this week before posting some of my favorite World Cup kits. 

Rapids Kit Rankings Away Top 10

Here we go with the best of the alternates!

#10 - 2007-2008

Our first light blue kit, and it really worked with the burgundy trim.  The big drawback on this one is the badge that says 'Colorado Rapids' and then right below it the big 'Colorado' across the front of the kit.  It would have been better as a clean blue kit.  I could take or leave the collar as well.

#9 - 2009-2010

See, better without the 'Colorado' on the front.  This collar works a bit better too IMO.  Otherwise only minor changes from the prior kit.

#8 - 2021-2022

The Class V mountain kit.  Love the goal to raise awareness of protection of our 14ers, love the idea of using the topographic map, loved the return to green, execution left a lot to be desired.  From any sort of distance this looked like a white kit with mint trim.  Also, once again, changing the badge which is an automatic deduction unless it knocks it out of the park, which this doesn't.  I like the clean style however.

#7 - 2001-2002

Nicknamed the Aquaman kits these were the first to shift from the baggy 90's style to the more skin-tight, hard to grab, modern style.  Great for top shape soccer players, not so great for out of shape fans like yours truly.  Otherwise it was a white kit with green trim and double Rapids logos.  Its the last Kappa road kit.

#6 - 2025-2026(?)

The current road kit.  Much like the mountains kit I love the goal of river protection, concept, and color, but execution was a stumble.  This one from a distance looks like moss or mold on the kit.  I actually like the completely different badge, I just wish it was an already established design and not something new for this kit.  We will be getting a new road kit either right before or right after the sprint season.  I think it will be before, but it a bit unclear.

#5 - 1997-1998

I like this color of green for the kit and the black trim works.  Still, it is just a green kit.  But that makes it almost top 5 on its own.

#4 - 2023-2024

The 'New Day' kit, to promote awareness of mental health.  An important topic and all the more so coming out of the pandemic.  A great design going back to our light blue secondary color and designed by local artist Pat Milbery.  This was the only one of this new run of away kits to support local movements that I think worked on all levels so far.  Still not sold by changing the badge colors, but at least its a secondary club color.

#3 - 1996

The original, and IMO still one of the best.  No big Rapids across the front, a bold green/white design for the 90's (understated for the time if anything), and the gold numbers play off the gold in the badge well.  Almost impossible to find now and impossible to find at a good price.  LAst year's anniversary kits should have taken more from this design to be a true throwback.

#2 - 2006

After four years of the awful black and blue we got some green back in our kit.  This is almost the same as the 2005 kits but the green works so much better than the blue.  Adding the green around the collar and down the inside of the sleeves was a big improvement.  I might be biased too as this was the first or the kits I went out to buy for my collection.

#1 - 1999-2000

This is easily the best road kit we've had.  A good 90's style with the white trim, the true Rapids green, and its the reverse of the home kit for consistency.  Still stuck with the double Rapids but at least this one is the circular logo as the badge and then a form of the original badge on the front of the kit.  I've got one of these in my collection but I only bring it out for important matches as its a little tight on me, and I don't want it to wear out.

So that's it.  Combined with the first post that's all 17 Rapids road kits ranked.  Where will the 2027 kit fall?

Rapids Kit Rankings - Homes 18-11

The best way to move on from last night is to look back at some Rapids history, so lets rank some kits!  Seriously, I do plan to get through all of them before the Rapids return on the 22nd, but I might end up cutting it close. 🤣

#18 - 2003-2004

2003 was the start of the questionable decision to make our identity black and blue, and it sucked.  The 2003-04 away was the bottom of that list and the home joins it here.  I mean, what about that says Colorado Rapids other than literal words across the chest?

#17 - 2006

Generally the Adidas kits were better than the Athletica ones, which is why this isn't in last, but its not great.  The black shoulders and the black arc around the chest just gives it a weird cloak-like look that doesn't work.

#16 - 2005

The last of the black and blue kits, this one at least tried to do something with the fuzzy lines and the collar looks better than the 2006 version.  There's a reason you don't see this trio around at games very often, this is an era that should be forgotten, at least kit-wise.

#15 - 2007-2008

The first of the burgundy kits were certainly an improvement over the prior color scheme (putting aside the whole rebranding debacle) but as the burgundy shirts go this is my least favorite.  The 'Rapids' across the front just looked minor league and the collar never impressed me.

#14 - 2026-2028(?)

Probably the first controversial take in this list.  Yeah, current home kit sucks.  We're the burgundy boys, we play in burgundy.  Not black with burgundy highlights.  And how do you call a black kit 'Colorful Colorado'?  This gets the end over the first burgundy because it is a good looking kit, just not as a home kit for a burgundy team.

There's no clear announcement for when we'll swap this one out, with the schedule change.  What I've heard is that the normal winter new kit will arrive as planned before the sprint season, for us that would be a new away kit.  Then we'd keep this home kit through the sprint season and the first fall-spring season, before swapping it out in the summer of 2028.

#13 - 2020-2021

We're now at the point where the kits go from "yeah, that's fine" to top-tier.  None of these are bad, they're just various levels of good enough to great.  In this case the 2020 one was good enough.  The only thing that puts me off a bit is the gradient in the kit from the left shoulder to the right side contrasting with the Adidas strips going over the right shoulder.  Something about the clash in direction doesn't sit right.

#12 - 2011-12

This is about as close as you can get to a base burgundy shirt.  There's nothing wrong with it but there's nothing that stands out.  It got a one spot boost over #13 because its the first one to have a star on the kit.

#11 - 2014-15

This was a better way of incorporating the flag than the away kits I rated in the last article.  I liked that big C across the front back when a jersey sponsor was a long shot for us.  The white sleeves set off nicely from it as well.

Next up, the top 10 away kits!

Rapids Kit Rankings - Aways 17-11

Ok, it took me a bit to get back to this, but let's start with the bottom of the away kit rankings.

#17 - 2003-2004

You're going to see a lot of the black & blue era at the bottom of these lists and the worst of our road kits are from that period.  You're also going to see a lot of mainly plain white kits tonight.  This was the first year we went to black and blue and the alternate kit was a white shirt with some blue highlights.  There's nothing that stands out about this one.

#16 - 2015-2016

I expect this next group is going to be controversial for many, but I do not like the flag kits.  I appreciate taking the big swing with them but IMO it didn't work.  I also have a general aversion to messing with the badge like they did on these, the blue/red coloring didn't work.

#15 - 2017-2018

The blue sleeves and collar and the sponsor (honestly) make this look better than the prior version of the flag kit, but all the prior issues apply here too.

#14 - 2011-2012

Originally I had ranked this behind the flag kits but when I pulled the pic from CFS I was reminded that this was our kit with our Scudetto and then eventually our first star.  For that it got a boost above the yellow kits, but otherwise this was another white shirt with the "Arsenal" sleeves.  Meh.

#13 - 2013-2014

The first attempt at a flag kit, and the best one.  The blue is better than the yellow as the base color and the C design in the center leans more into the flag.  The badge is still not great though and this one looked far too much like FSL colors, something exacerbated by the decision to wear them at home in a Rocky Mountain Cup match (which we lost).

#12 - 2019-2020

Ah, the almost all-white 'Black Diamond' kit.  I mean, what are we doing here?  Otherwise this is a white t-shirt with some burgundy iron-ons.  There's nothing to get excited about but also there's nothing wrong with it.  It just is.

#11 - 2005

(This was actually a hard one to find an image of)

White shirt with blue highlights. This would be the last away kit with the blue and I liked the general design.  The following year they would use the same design with a different color scheme and that one is going to be pretty high on the list.

Next up, 18-11 of the home kits.