I bought a New York Jets jersey with Jones #20 on it.
Brand new home jersey
Off season happens and Mr Jones is traded to the Kansas City Chiefs and LaDanian Tomlinson rolls into New York
So my brand new jersey is now out of date
I either walk around with a jersey with a players name on that plays for an opposition team or I stump up for a new jersey
Or I change my name by deed poll to Jones and pretend I meant to do that.
If players play for a club for life, what better way to show your support for your favourite player. But most dont and next season you'll be wearing the jersey of someone who plays for the opposition. In a small league like ours, that's more likely than the NFL where players get traded to teams you face once every 16 years. So why risk the purchase?
I would rather the clubs released jerseys WE ACTUALLY WANT TO WEAR, rather than the garbage we get served up. That would drastically increase jersey sales. We dont buy jerseys for a player, we buy them for a team. If that jersey is crap, we wont buy it.
You only have to read the jersey & colours thread to know that.
Oh and comparing the NRL to NFL and Premier League :lol: Manchester United are a clothing company with a sporting team attached to it. Look at the range of stuff you can buy from that team and they have a fan base of 7,000,000 people in the UK alone and 300,000,000 in China probably. So of course 1% of people buying still means sh*t loads of sales.
A team with 80,000 fans means each one has to sell each person about 20 jerseys to get on par. Economies of scale gentlemen.
Make the right jerseys and listen to what people ACTUALLY WANT and you'll sell a truck load. Just look at the Dogs and their hooped traditional jerseys and how many of those sold. That's what people want.
Not an exact replica of a 30 year old jersey, but a modern, close approximation of that old jersey. Without making it look like some shiny advertising hoarding.