If you want the most authentic-looking NFL jersey, you’ll have to shell out almost $300.
ESPN’s Darren Rovell reported Wednesday that although Nike never made an announcement, all of its retailers, including the NFL’s official online store, started selling two of the company’s three jerseys at higher prices on April 1.
Luckily, the least expensive of the replica jerseys, the Game jersey, didn’t get a price change and still stands at $100. The more authentic-looking Limited jersey, which has embroidered fabric numbers and letters instead of silicone printing, went up from $135 to $150. The Elite jersey, which is closest to the real thing, leaped nearly 20 percent higher, from $250 to $295.
Nike is in its third year of a five-year contract as the league’s official uniform producer. Reebok previously had been the official uniform maker for nearly a decade. When Nike took over in 2012, it raised the cheapest jersey price from $85 to $100.
Nike’s latest price hike only adds to how expensive it is to be an NFL fan in general. NFL ticket prices repeatedly top the charts for the most expensive over all major sporting events. Patriots fans especially are well aware of this fact, as the team had the league’s third-most expensive ticket prices last season, behind the New York Giants and Chicago Bears.
Photo via NFLShop.com
