Football Marketing News: McNair Selling Well In Baltimore

McNair Jersey Sales Could Pick Up After Week 1 Effort

Baltimore Sports & Novelty President Jeffrey Katzen said that sales of new Ravens QB Steve McNair’s No. 9 jerseys “took off almost immediately” after the team signed him this offseason, but then “tapered.” Patrice Person, a sales associate at a Modell’s Sporting Goods store in Baltimore, said of McNair’s jersey, “Next to [Ravens LB] Ray Lewis, it’s been the number-one selling jersey” (Daniel Sernovitz, BALTIMORE BUSINESS JOURNAL, 9/8 issue).

FICTIONAL, BUT FUN: In Chicago, Carol Slezak reviews Nike’s ads around the fictional Briscoe High football team that feature, among others, Falcons QB Michael Vick, Bears LB Brian Urlacher and Chargers RB LaDainian Tomlinson. Slezak: “The commercials are downright appealing, because they bring you back to a simpler time. ... Everything is so idyllic, you can almost forget that Briscoe High is a mirage. You can almost forget that high school football is a modern, and sometimes ugly, business” (SUN-TIMES, 9/12).

RETURN OF THE USFL: PROFOOTBALLTALK.com noted that the football footage in a new Nissan Titan commercial, “during which two guys fast forward through the football action so that they can see the ‘good stuff,’” is from a USFL game between the Houston Gamblers and Tampa Bay Bandits, “circa 1985.” Video from an NFL game was not used “most likely because the league won’t allow it.” GM is the NFL’s official car sponsor (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 9/11).