Classy move by Patriots: Jersey Exchange

[Spider-Dan]

And that loyal following has been screwed over buying his merchandise because he changes teams every year cause he sucks!

You act as if there was a sudden influx of Broncos and Jets fans when he went there.

These people were Tim Tebow fans.  The colors and name on the front of the jersey are irrelevant; all that matters is the name on the back.  No Tebow fan has been "screwed over" just because they have a different color jersey than another Tebow fan.

[MikeO]

This kinda shows they did know he was gonna pop. They already had a plan in place.
hmmmmmmm kinda makes you think?

I don't know if they knew he was gonna pop, but this move is anything but "classy".....its more self-serving if anything

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Wait why just Hernandez? If someone owns a Welker or Lloyd jersey or whoever is no longer on the team they should be able to swap that out too. 

If you read the press release you will understand the difference. 

“We know that children love wearing their Patriots jerseys, but may not understand why parents don’t want them wearing their Hernandez jerseys anymore,”

If my kid owned a Wes Welker jersey, (be it Patriots or Dolphins) I wouldn't a problem with him/her continuing to wear it.  On the other hand I would not want my kid wearing a Hermadez, Ray Lewis or O.J. Simpson jersey.

[bsfins]

I think it's a cool move by the Patriots/NFL who ever is doing it....

Random thoughts on this...(a tweet,and also Hoodies post made me think of it...)

Ben Volin was tweeting about the Salary cap implications of releasing Hernandez,the Ian tweeted this...
Tweet from Ian Rapport
@RapSheet: The Pats are fighting for every Hernandez dollar. Meanwhile, jersey exchange could cost up to a million or more.

I'm curious to see how many fake,ebay,chinese site,jersey's get turned in.How are they handling those,are they going to turn those people away? What if it's a ratty stained,got way too drunk,they get a new jersey?

[Pappy13]

^^I don't really understand this train of thought. The salary cap is just that, a cap on how much you can spend. There's no such cap on how much New England can spend to try to polish their image.

[bsfins]

The jersey money,isn't part of the cap....They were talking about the cap implications of releasing him ...Ian mentioned how much the jersey trade in was going to cost...2 different things.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

I think it's a cool move by the Patriots/NFL who ever is doing it....

Random thoughts on this...(a tweet,and also Hoodies post made me think of it...)

Ben Volin was tweeting about the Salary cap implications of releasing Hernandez,the Ian tweeted this...
Tweet from Ian Rapport
@RapSheet: The Pats are fighting for every Hernandez dollar. Meanwhile, jersey exchange could cost up to a million or more.

I'm curious to see how many fake,ebay,chinese site,jersey's get turned in.How are they handling those,are they going to turn those people away? What if it's a ratty stained,got way too drunk,they get a new jersey?

I am pretty sure if the jersey is not an official jersey (e.g. fake, ebay chinese site, etc) you won't get to exchange it as the avg joe can tell the difference, so can the folks who work for the Pats.  The press release says you must have purchased it from the Patriots pro-shop or website.  An official jersey that was purchased at NFL.com is not even included (although those should be easier to sneak in)

Not sure how they are handling ratty or torn ones

[Pappy13]

...2 different things.

I agree, it sounded to me like Ian was trying to relate them to each other.

[MaineDolFan]

Let's not all get down on our collective knees and blow the Pats over this move just yet.  There are stipulations to this buy back:

It's only for those who have purchased a jersey from the shop at Gillette or its website, and you have to still be able to prove the purchase.  If you have a random jersey and wander in during this limited dates (July 6th and 7th and only at the Pro Shop) you will be turned away.

It's not like they are accepting every jersey that comes in.

And, my opinion, this is very self serving.  They don't want their brand associated with a person who has been accused of murder.  This has nothing to do with the fans.  When a game is on national TV, they want as few 81 and 85 jerseys on TV as possible for themselves, and their brand.  This is a business move.  I don't think they, or any other franchise, really, give two craps about Joe Public.  If they did, the "buy back" wouldn't be for only Pro Shop jerseys, it would be for any officially Patriot licensed product (1) and the buy back would include mail in opportunities for fans who can't drive up to Gillette during 4th of July weekend (2), which I am sure was carefully picked as a weekend.  A lot of people are going to say "screw that, I'm not going to spend four hours in traffic for this."

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Let's not all get down on our collective knees and blow the Pats over this move just yet.  There are stipulations to this buy back:

It's only for those who have purchased a jersey from the shop at Gillette or its website, and you have to still be able to prove the purchase.  If you have a random jersey and wander in during this limited dates (July 6th and 7th and only at the Pro Shop) you will be turned away.



It's not like they are accepting every jersey that comes in.

This is not an update.  This was in the original press release and article. 

And, my opinion, this is very self serving.  They don't want their brand associated with a person who has been accused of murder.  This has nothing to do with the fans.  When a game is on national TV, they want as few 81 and 85 jerseys on TV as possible for themselves, and their brand.  This is a business move.  

Of course this was done as a business move and to help the corporate image.  However, it is a stark difference from how the Raven's handled Ray Lewis.  OJ Simpson is still honored at Ralph Wilson stadium. 

The Patriots way is better. 

Before you berate the Patriots for not doing it EXACTLY the way you think they should handle it, I challenge you to name a single instance where an NFL team handled it better.   

[MikeO]

Let's not all get down on our collective knees and blow the Pats over this move just yet.  There are stipulations to this buy back:

It's only for those who have purchased a jersey from the shop at Gillette or its website, and you have to still be able to prove the purchase.  If you have a random jersey and wander in during this limited dates (July 6th and 7th and only at the Pro Shop) you will be turned away.

It's not like they are accepting every jersey that comes in.

And, my opinion, this is very self serving.  They don't want their brand associated with a person who has been accused of murder.  This has nothing to do with the fans.  When a game is on national TV, they want as few 81 and 85 jerseys on TV as possible for themselves, and their brand.  This is a business move.  I don't think they, or any other franchise, really, give two craps about Joe Public.  If they did, the "buy back" wouldn't be for only Pro Shop jerseys, it would be for any officially Patriot licensed product (1) and the buy back would include mail in opportunities for fans who can't drive up to Gillette during 4th of July weekend (2), which I am sure was carefully picked as a weekend.  A lot of people are going to say "screw that, I'm not going to spend four hours in traffic for this."

Totally agree 100%. That's what I have been saying!

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Totally agree 100%. That's what I have been saying!

I repeat.  Name one NFL team that has handled a similar situation in a better manner. 

[MikeO]

I repeat.  Name one NFL team that has handled a similar situation in a better manner. 

There have been very few (if any) similar situations where an active player commits murder (allegedly). And all NE did was cut him quickly, which they get some credit for (some). The Jersey exchange comes off as self serving and they didn't need to do it. Or they should have took it a step further and let fans exchange all jerseys of players no longer with the team. Then I would have felt...hey ya know what, the Pats family and fans are going through a rough time, have some egg on their face and they are doing something good for their fanbase. But only exchanging Hernandez jerseys (and only certain ones purchased at a certain place) comes off as self serving and nothing special in my book. As the more details come out about this jersey exchange it makes the organization actually look worse!

Just like the fake wrestling company there will never be able to distance itself from the wrestler who killed his wife and child a few years back (there was an article comparing the Hernandez murder to that and how does a company deal with such a thing. And I read the other day they don't put his old matches on DVD's and edit out his name being mentioned on DVD's and such) the Pats will never be able to distance themselves from Hernandez. The Pats cut him quickly which was good, but they haven't really handled this well.  They should have cut him, make a donation to the victims family (even if he is found guilty/not guilty...doesn't matter it just comes off as a nice gesture), and just not mention him anymore. No lame jersey exchange with a bunch of silly rules was needed. And let this fade away over time hopefully.

[Brian Fein]

Here's the thing:

There are so many counterfeit jerseys out there that they can't accept counterfeit jersey's in exchange for real ones.  They just can't.  They'd be giving them away for free.  People could go out and buy fake Hernandez jerseys for $15 online, exchange them in the store for $120 various ones and sell them and make a killing!

From a business aspect, they can't allow that to happen.  Thus the stipulations, and I agree with them.

I don't think you should have to go in person though.  But clearly they are only interested in helping those that might show up at a game.

[CF DolFan]

Here's the thing:

There are so many counterfeit jerseys out there that they can't accept counterfeit jersey's in exchange for real ones.  They just can't.  They'd be giving them away for free.  People could go out and buy fake Hernandez jerseys for $15 online, exchange them in the store for $120 various ones and sell them and make a killing!

From a business aspect, they can't allow that to happen.  Thus the stipulations, and I agree with them.

I don't think you should have to go in person though.  But clearly they are only interested in helping those that might show up at a game.

I admit I thought it was much cooler before I saw all of the restrictions. Not sure why they wouldn't accept all "official" jerseys. To me it's one of those things that if you are going to do it then at least do it. don't half ass it.