In the wake of Aaron Hernandez‘s arrest following the murder of Odin Lloyd, it was noted that the price of Hernandez jerseys skyrocketed on the secondary market. The Patriots, of course, released Hernandez, meaning his jersey was no longer for sale, but on top of that, the team offered to exchange Hernandez jerseys for anyone else on the team.
Likewise, sellers like eBay have clearly profited from Hernandez’s newfound infamy. Jersey prices on the auction-style website have hit upwards of $1,500. However, New England-area brick-and-mortar stores say that they refuse to take “blood money” made from selling Hernandez jerseys.
“I do not stand for what he allegedly did and wouldn’t want to profit off an individual who was murdered,” said the owner of Your Sports Memorabilia in Boston, according to TMZ. “Sports memorabilia is a dirty industry and this is one of the reasons why.”
TMZ says that they spoke with multiple sporting goods and memorabilia store owners, and none of them desire to make money from the sale of Hernandez jerseys. However, they do say that the owner of New England Pictures in Manchester, N.H., told them the store sold more Hernandez jerseys on the day he was arrested than in the prior six months.
“We don’t want to make money off this incident,” said the owner of Sportsworld USA in Saugus, Mass. “It’s what we consider blood money. We just want to get our money back.”
