Look at Real. They have a white shirt and it still sells every year. We at least have two colors. This is easily the worst home shirt since forever. And it's hard to beat that zig zag abomination we had a few years ago.
We make money as royalty only if we sell over a threshold. Even then I don't think it's that much. Adidas pays us upfront as part of the sponsorship.
http://www.juventus.com/en/news/news/2013/press-release.php
This. It's very hard to make a text only logo to look good without a solid background.
At least it doesn't look as bad as that Besiktas jersey with Vodafone as sponsor.