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A lot of people forget that in the end all sports is a business. Somewhere up the food chain is a guy who is keeping count of tickets sold, merchandise sold, money made and money spent. So when a NFL team can sign a player that helps them move swag, they have a done, a great thing for their business.
With that in mind here is a look at the top ten selling jerseys so far in the 2009 NFL season:
1. Brett Favre Minnesota Vikings
2. Troy Polamalu Pittsburgh Steelers
3. Jay Cutler Chicago Bears
4. Mark Sanchez New York Jets
5. Mike Vick Philadelphia Eagles
6. Tony Romo Dallas Cowboys
7. Eli Manning New York Giants
8. Tom Brady New England Patriots
9. Ben Rothlisberger Pittsburgh Steelers
10. Adrian Peterson Minnesota Vikings
Now there are some interesting ways to look at these numbers. Eight of the ten are QB’s and I don’t think that is a really big surprise there. Five NFC players and five AFC players are on the list. The Vikings and the Steelers have two players each on this list.
This list only contains one rookie, but does feature two players who switched teams, and a third who came back to the league in Michael Vick. It will be interesting to see how these jersey sales numbers translate to on the field success.
More than all that though it shows that these teams have big fan bases, and even in a tough economy, they are willing to spend their hard earned dollars supporting the team they love.
I have tried over, and over again to make the argument that sports is not a dollar and sense decision from the fans side. It is an emotional investment based on nothing more than one’s own emotions. To be a successful sports enterprise teams have to connect on that level with their fans.
Really this is a lesson the Detroit Lions need to learn. They have a brand new franchise QB, a star LB in Larry Foote returning to his own hometown and yet they do not have a top ten jersey seller.
They don’t have that because they are not in tune with their fan base, their fans are tired of the losing and will not spend their money on tickets or merchandise because they have stopped caring.
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