It was a busy two days for the Patriots ProShop at Gillette Stadium. Per a team spokesman, the official number of Aaron Hernandez jerseys returned by customers exceeded 2,500.
Between 30 and 35 percent of the jerseys exchanged were youth models. The Patriots established the program primarily to give parents the opportunity to replace for their children the Hernandez jersey with a jersey belonging to a different player.
Earlier in the day, owner Robert Kraft pegged the number at roughly 2,500 in a meeting with reporters from ESPNBoston.com, the Boston Globe, and the Boston Herald.
The cost of the exchange program has been conservatively estimated at $250,000. It’s unclear whether that’s the out-of-pocket expense to the Patriots from trading new jerseys for the exchanged Hernandez jersey, or the lost revenue resulting from the reality that the fan who exchanged the Hernandez jersey won’t be paying the retail cost for a new one.
The most popular replacements were Vince Wilfork, Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Chandler Jones, and Stevan Ridley. Wilfork was the top choice for the jersey exchanges.
The jersey material will be recycled, and the two-day program officially has ended.
Meanwhile, some of you have asked whether the Patriots will discourage fans from wearing Hernandez jerseys to home games. We’re told that no effort will be made by the team to dissuade fans from wearing their Hernandez jerseys.
Other Patriots fans may choose to do some dissuading, hopefully without crossing any lines that would dissuade security from allowing the fans to stay in the stadium.
And I’ve now dissuaded myself from using the term dissuade for the next month or so.