Minor League Baseball marketers might be the only people in America who aren’t yet sick of Deflategate.
The New England Patriots’ underinflated footballs controversy has spawned a pair of promotions in the Triple-A International League: “Free Brady Friday” at the home of the understandably pro-Tom Brady Pawtucket Red Sox, and the Buffalo Bisons’ “Keep Brady Suspended” Night, which will take place one night later.
And while minor league promos tend to be as cheesy as can be, both of these actually are pretty funny.
The PawSox will offer free admission to next Friday’s home game against the Louisville Bats to any fan named “Tom” or “Brady.” The Bisons, meanwhile, plan to fill their doubleheader next Saturday with Deflategate-related gags, including “buy-one, get-one free tickets to anyone that brings a PROPERLY-INFLATED football to be donated to area youth football programs” and the acceptance of “UN-DESTROYED cell phone donations for ‘Cell Phones for Soldiers’.”
But wait, there’s more. “Toms” and “Bradys” will be allowed to attend the festivities but “will not be allowed to watch the first four innings of Game 1Â of the doubleheader.” Think of it as a four-inning suspension.
“Please,” the team said in a news release announcing the promotion, “no appeals.”
Touché, Buffalo.
Thumbnail photo via Stew Milne/USA TODAY Sports ImagesÂ
