Columbus Blue Jackets Break New Ground By Replacing Jersey Name For Free
CNBC Sports Business Reporter
When the Columbus Blue Jackets traded for Jeff Carter at the end of last season, many fans spent the offseason and the beginning of this season buying his No. 7 Blue Jackets jersey.
So you could imagine there was some anger when Carter was traded to the Los Angeles Kings on Feb. 23, after just playing 39 games with the Blue Jackets.
Well, tonight, for what is believed to be the first time in sports history, a team offering fans free nameplates to replace a traded player for a newly acquired one. It actually works out perfectly because Carter was traded to the Kings for Jack Johnson, who came to wear No. 7 for the Blue Jackets.
Fans are invited to bring their Carter No. 7 jerseys into the team store through the end of the first period at tonight’s game and have a choice to get a new J. Johnson nameplate heat pressed on the jersey or to wait for the team to produce sewn name plates and affix them to the jersey.
“It’s a reward for our fans,” said Karen Davis, director of business communications for the team. “Our fans made an investment in buying the jersey and we’re saying, we want them to have our new player on their back.”
Davis said that the team is not sure how many people are going to show up to do the nameplate swap.
Did we mention that the Blue Jackets are playing Carter and the Kings tonight?!
Thanks to Jason Caldwell on Twitter (@JC10380) for the tip
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