You’ve likely seen, one or twice or more often, the DirecTV commercial featuring Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and members of the various Real Housewives shows. The commercial includes no team names or logos, which means that DirecTV cut a check for Prescott but not for his employer, the Dallas Cowboys.
Recently, you may have noticed a subtle change to the commercial. While watching last night’s games on both ESPN and Amazon (the commercial ran during both West Virginia-Virginia Tech and Steelers-Browns), my son pointed out that Dak’s jersey is now purple. It previously was blue.
“Your son has a good eye,” a league spokesman told PFT. “We asked DirecTV to change it and they did, which we appreciated.”
The blue jersey in the original commercial looked too much like the Cowboys’ blue “home” jersey, which the Cowboys rarely wear at home. However, the courtesy in color change stopped with the shirts. Other blues in the uniform worn by Dak’s generic team remain, such as the socks.
DirecTV is in the last year of its Sunday Ticket package with the NFL. DirecTV reportedly pays $1.5 billion per year for the rights to do so. That obviously wasn’t enough to get the NFL to give DirecTV a pass when it comes to the potential similarity of Dak’s fictional uniform to his real one.