Photograph of a Jets fan contemplating a Favre jersey at the ets store at the Jets training facility in Hempstead, NY by Ed Betz/AP
A record crowd showed up Saturday for Jets’ training camp. NFL.com broke a sales record when 3,200 Brett Favre New York Jets jerseys were sold in a day. The Jets’ website crashed because too many fans wanted to get their own jersey. So, the business side of the Brett Favre trade is off to a great start and that is precisely why the Jets made the deal.
Sure, Favre was an upgrade over Pennington and Clemens and he makes the Jets better. For many of the older fans, this trade takes away the sting of seeing Joe Namath as a Ram. But, does anyone really think this makes the Jets Super Bowl contenders? Are they better than the Patriots or Colts? No, they aren’t, but what they are is relevant again and in a media market where the other football team is the defending champion, that is a huge step.
Favre puts the Jets in the spotlight and creates a buzz and for Woody Johnson that is very important because he is about to start selling personal seat licenses. Imagine the outcry if Johnson had priced his PSL’s at the same level as the Super Bowl Giants before making this trade. But, this is a one-time charge he would have responded and fans would have pointed out that his team went 4-12 last year. Now, Johnson has the cover of the Favre trade to announce his plans. Brett’s a Jet and we have to wait a few more weeks to see what that means on the field, but off of it the Jets have already scored a touchdown.
