A recent trend in the sports world is Throwback theme nights, complete with jerseys, music, and in some cases, prices. A massive part of the success of these events in social media - teams turn to their social outlets to show off jerseys, attract interest in the events, and engage their fans. Before getting to the social aspect, however, we should take a look at nostalgia in sports.

For as long as I can remember, nostalgia has been a major part of sports - generations passing on their love of the game to their children, reliving the records and historical figures as they watch the latest game. From my perspective, this is most prevalent in baseball, where announcers research how their game fits with the two team's histories, and scorekeepers still use the same methods to track game progress. In fact, newspapers still print box scores the same way they did in the 1950s, with online articles posting the same formatted content.

With nostalgia continuing to be a major part of the sports world, we can now take a look at how social media fits in with throwback campaigns. The best place to start is with the #TBT hashtag, which stands for "Throwback Thursday". This campaign started organically on Twitter and Instagram in 2011 and became a great way for users to share their memories and "throwback" posts. #TBT because a major part of the sports world as well, with athletes using the hashtag to share photos and posts about their childhood, including their sports memories from their younger years. Teams began to use the content provided by their players, and this transitioned into some of the most memorable throwback events.

Now to the main event - Throwback Nights. In the sports world, they have been done with various teams, concepts, and designs. My time with the Portland Pirates saw a throwback night to kick off their 20th season in Portland, incorporating their original jerseys and logo from 1993-94.

At a major league level, throwback nights have become immersive campaigns with full social engagement. With the San Jose Sharks throwback game last night, the Sharks not only changed their social logos to their 1990 version, they wore the original teal jerseys and used some of their original content during the game.

WARNING: This video may be too radical for your eyes to see. #25YearsofTeal #SJSharks https://t.co/1GIHO15LDh
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) November 4, 2015

This follows the Arizona Coyotes' #ThrowbackInBlack last season, which saw a conpletely immersive event featuring as many elements as possible from the 1995-96 season, starting with the original jerseys.

While throwback nights have become popular, other teams have incorporated nostalgia into their seasons in other ways. The Arizona Diamondbacks took #TBT literally this past season, wearing their original purple jerseys every Thursday night game, complete with social media changes to match.

This season, rather than hosting a specific throwback night, the Anaheim Ducks unveiled a third jersey that combines their original logo with their current design.

This jersey invokes nostalgia based on the original Mighty Ducks of Anaheim with current branding efforts. The Ducks unveiled the jersey via social media, which helped engage their fans on the idea of a throwback.

To wrap up, nostalgia has an important part in sports, and many organizations have tapped into this sentiment. Teams have used social media to engage their fans with these concepts, conbining new technology with history to create a comprehensive, engaging throwback program.

Throwback Thoughts