Team colors are an important part of sports fandom, but for color-blind sports fans those colors can be a challenge. Teams be difficult to distinguish (as was the case with the green-red “Color Rush” Thursday NFL matchup two years ago) and balls—from orange field hockey balls to white golf balls—can disappear in the green grass.
Color blindness tends to affect men more than women, and it’s thought that 8 percent of men are afflicted to some degree. This is not an insignificant number, though only in recent years has this issue been considered, let alone addressed, by the sports world.
These images, first posted in USA Today’s For The Win, give those who are not afflicted an idea of what it’s like to witness sporting events as a color-blind fan. The images contrast the original with one reflecting deuteranopia, which creates red-green color blindness.
Following complaints from fans, the NFL has worked to ensure that the all-red and all-green uniforms don’t appear in the same games, but questions still remain about what can be done to accommodate color-blind fans.