I am not a lawyer, but how can they make him pay for jersey's like this? This is the first time I have ever seen a company trying to do this.
I see the side of the story that says that this is a fiasco. Yes, it is Chad Ocho Cinco garnering attention.
My only problem is that the NFL is walking the fine line between classy and facist.
To force Johnson to buy out the stock of NFL jerseys is discrimination because they are singling Johnson out.
I didn't see Reebok or EA Sports up in arms when Brett Farve changed teams AFTER the Madden 09 cover was out and the 2008 apparel came out.
I know, I know it is different circumstances but the same result with a stock of Brett Farve mechandise that is useless.
I my mind the NFL is in danger of being too cute. In an effort to try and out smart one player in the league it risks opening the perverbial can of worms.
If Reebok enforces this buyout where will it end. When does the fact that Farve did the same thing. What about players that change there name like Mauric Jone-Drew did when decided to add -Drew to his jersey.
There have been players before Chad Ocho Cinco that have changed there names and those will be brought to light by the NFLPA.
Reebok and the NFL will lose this suit and rightfully so because they are wrong.
They can have the opinion that Chad is creating a fiasco, and making a mockery of the league. That is fine. But the law is the law and there hurt feeling or standards are not stronger, nor should they be, then the law of the land.
Hate the situation. Hate the player. But like it or not he has every right to change his name and Reebok/NFL has no right to force him to buy out there stock.
That is against the law. PERIOD.
I think we're missing the point here. If Reebok printed 10 million Brady jerseys and he goes out and gets hurt (which he did) and they end up getting stuck with 5 million jerseys then Reebok would have been affected by something that's a part of the game (and therefore risk associated with playing players monies associated with their name).
Reebok has to assume the risk normally associated with the game such as injury, poor performance, disgruntled contracts, etc. Having a player change their name is definitely outside the norm and Chad should be held responsible.
A better analogy would be when Jason Taylor was traded to the Skins. I guarentee that there were some premade Miami jerseys that never made it to the shelves.BUNK! Reebok isnt going to lose money on Brady Jerseys. The guy being hurt isnt going to stop the sell of those jerseys one iota. He is young and will be back next year. He is a 3 time SB winning QB and League and SB MVP. People will still buy his jersey a million times over. The injury doesnt change that. bad analogy.