Reggie Bush To Wear No. 5 For NFLPA Photo Shoot

Bush To Wear No. 5 For Trading Card Photo Shoot

After a Saints official told the NFLPA that first-round pick Reggie Bush would wear No. 25 for a trading card photo shoot this weekend, Bush’s marketing agent Mike Ornstein said that the team “is fine with Bush wearing No. 5, and his client will do so,” according to Darren Rovell of ESPN.com. Bush has requested permission from the NFL to wear No. 5 as he did at USC, and Rovell noted that a player wearing a different number at the photo shoot than during the season is not unprecedented. Bush said last week he would donate 25% of all royalties from jersey sales to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts if he could wear No. 5, but Ornstein said that Bush has “now agreed to make the donation no matter what number he wears.” Players Inc Assistant VP/Multimedia & Interactive Josh Goodstadt said of Bush, “The input we’ve gathered from our licensees is that the number he wears, in the long run, won’t help or hurt the sale of his cards.” However, Reebok VP/Team Properties Eddie White said that with Bush’s number “still undecided, preorders of Bush’s jerseys have slowed down a bit.” White: “Right after the draft, Bush jerseys were red hot. Now it’s more like lukewarm because there are retailers who are cutting back on their orders due to the uncertainty” (ESPN.com, 5/16).

PICK A NUMBER: In N.Y., John Branch writes the NFL Competition Committee will “probably recommend that the team owners adopt a more flexible system starting in 2007 –- one that allows running backs and receivers to choose a number from 1 to 49.” The revision would require 75% of teams’ approval. Making the change effective in ’07 would “provide time to handle the logistics of having veterans swap numbers in midcareer. Mainly, it would give time to sell already-made jerseys to fans” (N.Y. TIMES, 5/17).

WHAT OUR READERS THOUGHT: An online poll of SBD and SBJ readers asked, “Do you think Reggie Bush should be allowed to wear No. 5 in the NFL?” Following are the results of 611 responses collected from last Friday through this morning.


SILENT TREATMENT: New Era Sports & Entertainment attorney Brian Watkins, whose client is reported to have given Bush’s family over $100,000 since late ’04, said that Bush and his parents “have declined to be interviewed by NCAA and Pac-10 officials investigating their relationship” with the company. Watkins said he was told that by NCAA Assistant Dir for Agent, Gambling & Amateurism Activities Angie Cretors, who is investigating the case for the NCAA (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 5/17).