The New England Patriots are possibly the one team in the NFL that exemplifies the “team over player” mantra better than anyone else. Their roster every season seems like a rotating door of names, plugging guys into a system that just works year in and year out. When a player becomes too expensive, the Pats let him go and plug in a cheaper option.
While fans definitely enjoy the team being successful, the constant roster turnover affects fans in one negative way; jersey purchases. Who wants to buy a jersey for your favorite team if there’s a good chance that player will be gone next season? Unless you’re buying yet another Tom Brady jersey, you have no guarantee that player will be back the following season.
The Patriots for their part are being proactive with the situation, offering fans a way to purchase jerseys without fear of their jersey being irrelevant within a few weeks. According to ESPN, the organization will offer fans a partial guarantee on their newly purchased jerseys.
On Thursday morning, the team sent an email about what it calls the jersey guarantee to everyone on its mailing list.
If fans purchase jerseys from the team website or stadium store and the players whose names are on the back leave the team within a year of purchase, those fans will receive a 25 percent discount toward the price of the next Patriots jersey they buy. Fans, who will have two months from the day a player is no longer under contract to make a new purchase with the discount, do not have to return the original jerseys with the names of former players.
While fans may not be getting back the full amount of their jersey purchase, 25% is definitely better than nothing. It will be interesting to see if other NFL franchises follow the Patriots lead.