Bulls’ Nike NBA City Edition uniforms pay tribute to Chicago Stadium originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Friday night at the United Center won’t just be the debut Chicago Bulls game for the NBA’s new In-Season Tournament. The contest against the Brooklyn Nets also won’t merely featured a specially designed court.
The Bulls will wear their Nike NBA City Edition uniforms for the first time. And they give a strong nod to the building that preceded the United Center, the famed—and razed—Chicago Stadium.
The “Madhouse on Madison” is where the Bulls’ first three-peat teams played, and Friday’s uniforms pay tribute in details ranging from the parallel “Chicago” on the jersey that replicates the signage outside Chicago Stadium to the two parallel stripes on the shorts representing “the four-corner window patterning” on the old barn.
Originally opened in 1929, the Chicago Stadium housed events ranging from championship boxing matches to Democratic and Republican National Conventions. The building closed when the United Center opened in August 1994 and was demolished in 1995.
The jersey also features the phrase “Madhouse on Madison,” given to the building for its architectural design that made the noise from the first and second balconies so loud, as well as the famed pipe organ.
The Bulls, who first began playing at the Chicago Stadium in their second season in 1967, will also sports these uniforms for In-Season Tournament games on Nov. 17 versus the Orlando Magic and Nov. 28 against the Boston Celtics.
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