If you’ve ever dealt with the existential problem of finding the perfect sneakers to pair with your jersey, fear not: For the second straight year, Nike has created a collection of City Connect sneakers, one for each uniform that debuted during the 2026 season.
While the 2025 City Connects were represented on a shoe of recent vintage – the popular Air Max 270, which debuted in 2018 – this year’s slate hearkened back to an all-time classic. The ’26 City Connects are modeled on the Air Max 1, one of Nike’s most iconic sneakers.
The AM1, which also served as Nike’s Jackie Robinson Day sneaker two years ago, was inspired by a Parisian building that was engineered to expose the inside of the building to the street below. Designer extraordinaire Tinker Hatfield’s resulting creation was the first shoe to insert a window in the midsole to the patented polyurethane air bag in the heel.
The Air Max 1 has inspired countless descendants, but thanks to its historical significance and timeless look, its appeal has spanned the generations. As such, the City Connect AM1s are perfect for fans of their respective teams, but they’re sharp enough to work as standalone options, so each release has been very well received.
Here are the City Connect Air Max 1’s that have released thus far, and we will update as more sneaker release details are announced.
Atlanta Braves
The Braves became known as “America’s Team” for a reason: Their games aired on TBS Superstation, and thanks to their availability for a national audience, quite a few geographically disenfranchised fans in the Dale Murphy era became enamored with the team.
The powder blue 2026 City Connect 2.0 Jerseys evoke the ones worn by the Braves during those salad days, and the “ATL” logo in the sleeve is stylistically similar to the old-school TBS logo.
The sneaker similarly has that nostalgic logo on the tongue, with “Atlanta” in script on the heel counter. And the insole features “Atlanta Braves” in the “Superstation” font, much as it appears above the jock tag on the jersey.
Pittsburgh Pirates
While the previous Pirates City Connect jersey was bright yellow, the 2.0 version is pure black-and-gold, evoking the grit – and color scheme – that defines the residents and teams of the Steel City. It also boasts the iconic Jolly Roger on the sleeve, and the bottom of the “Pirates” font on the jersey is built to resemble the city’s iconic three sister bridges across the Allegheny River, including the Roberto Clemente Bridge that leads to PNC Park.
The matching sneakers feature the Jolly Roger on the tongue and the bridge-inspired Pirates text on the heel counter. They also have a speckled midsole and play up the pop of red on the Jolly Roger with crimson laces.
Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers’ City Connect 2.0 theme is not strictly limited to repping Milwaukee; the jerseys have “Wisco” emblazoned on the front and feature design hits and color schemes reminiscent of Wisconsin’s beaches and sunsets. In a nice touch, the previous uni’s grill logo over the jock tag was replaced by a fishing bobber as a nod to lazy summer days on the lake.
The sneakers followed suit in drawing a connection between Wisconsin leisure time and gameday. Look for the revamped “Barrelman” logo over the state’s silhouette prominent on the tongue.
Cincinnati Reds
Whereas the Reds’ previous City Connect jerseys were black-based, the 2.0 version was “Rooted in Red.” The color scheme was flipped, but the team kept a lot of what made their first iteration so popular.
"We thought all red just makes too much sense," said Ralph Mitchell, the club's senior vice president of brand and content. "Nike sent us every red color swatch in their library, and I’m telling you, there’s five different shades of red in this uniform."
The revamped “C” logo is back, as is the Cincy logo, juxtaposed over an image of the Tyler Davidson Fountain in Downtown Cincinnati. Meanwhile, they incorporated pinstripes for the first time in two decades, and they cut off at the shoulders as a nod to the team's former vest-style jerseys.
Essentially, the Reds wanted to combine progressive thinking with nods to their rich tradition. All of those design hits can be found on the matching sneakers, with the statue patch design on the sockliner, the Cincy text on the heel counter and the C logo on the tongue.