Favre mania

Published 12:13 pm Saturday, August 22, 2009

Brett Favre’s reign in purple had its Dome debut Friday, and the buzz around No. 4 has led to quite a spike in ticket and jersey sales.

The Vikings have sold 4,000 season tickets and 15,000 individual tickets since Favre signed on Tuesday, team spokesman Jeff Anderson said, and the official team store and Web site has surpassed 5,000 in sales for Favre jerseys — a jersey that’s been sought after in Austin.

Games People Play employee Jacob Ewert said at least 50 people have asked him about the No. 4 jersey this week — but so far, he’s had to tell them to wait or go elsewhere.

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The store has ordered the jerseys but doesn’t expect to receive a shipment until somewhere between two weeks and two months from now.

In the meantime, Ewert said the store has been taking names of people who want to reserve the popular shirt.

“It’s a good thing to talk about,” he said. “It’s created a lot of buzz.”

At Younkers in Austin, the first shipment of Favre jerseys arrived Thursday.

Like Ewert, department manager Krista Kahle said a number of people were asking about jerseys as soon as the Favre news broke Tuesday afternoon.

Kahle said she expected the $80 jerseys to be hot items.

“It’s already been a piece of interest,” she said. “(The jerseys) will move out of the store rapidly.”

Vikings fans can also head to any of three pro shops — at the Mall of America, Rosedale Mall or Richdale Center — or vikingsfanshop.com to look for Favre jerseys and collectibles.

Noting that, “Purple is the new green,” the site is selling Favre shirts, mugs and footballs, in addition to the jerseys.

Team spokesman Anderson said the new quarterback has only added to an already exciting offseason.

“We had record crowds at training camp before the signing,” he said. “We certainly added a boost this week.”

Further proof of Favre — and his jersey’s — popularity is this nugget: the team has sold jerseys to each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and 10 foreign countries, according to Dave Moroknek, president of official team merchandiser MainGate.

If you got your hands on a hot Favre jersey and want to show it off while watching him against his former team, tickets are still available for the Monday night game against the Green Bay Packers Oct. 5 — if you buy a season-ticket package as well, Anderson noted.

“There’s a lot of excitement,” he said.