Turnstiles, retailers feel Favre fever

Brett Favre will sell tickets and purple No. 4 jerseys. That much was certain on Day 1 of his Vikings career.

Now, can he help sell plans for a new stadium to state legislators? That question is a little murkier.

The Vikings are ecstatic with what Favre already has brought to the franchise in terms of interest and revenue. From midmorning, when news of Favre's signing broke, to 9 p.m. the Vikings sold 2,500 season tickets and 8,000 single-game tickets.

"There hasn't really been a day in Vikings history with this kind of volume for season tickets in one day,'' said Steve LaCroix, Vikings vice president of sales and marketing. LaCroix said Ticketmaster is adding additional infrastructure to handle the demand for tickets.

The Vikings had lagging ticket sales before Tuesday, with about 10,000 tickets remaining for every home game. Now, single-game tickets are gone for Green Bay and San Francisco (they were sold in a two-game package), and LaCroix is talking hopefully of selling out the rest of the games.

How hot was the news of Favre's signing? The Vikings website usually has 100,000 page views a day. On Tuesday, there were more than 1 million views, which likely included many people looking to buy a Favre jersey.

Favre jerseys were selling on the team's website by Tuesday afternoon, along with purple Favre earrings, autographed Favre beer and shot glasses and Favre posters. The three Vikings Locker Room stores -- at Mall of America, Ridgedale and Rosedale -- will be stocked with Favre jerseys by today, courtesy of an overnight truck shipment from Reebok's plant in Indianapolis.

There was no preprinting of Favre jerseys, but Reebok -- which has the license with the NFL -- knew from history that Favre jerseys would be hot sellers.

Favre is No. 1 in the NFL in career jerseys sold and was No. 1 in the league last season after he signed with the Jets, according to NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy. Favre was No. 3 in jerseys sold in his final year with the Packers in 2007, and the publicity surrounding his Vikings arrival should spark a surge of sales.

"Based on his past experience, he certainly drives a lot of attention to everything he does,'' McCarthy said.

Local marketing experts praised Favre's signing, saying it can do nothing but help create interest in the team. What about those fans who can't stand the Packers and didn't want the team to sign Favre?

"Those that have that degree of passion are already deeply committed to the team and the league," said John Rash, senior vice president and director of media analysis for Campbell Mithun and an editorial writer for the Star Tribune. "His signing brings in the casual, occasional fan while losing few, if any, of the traditional fans. ... As with all entertainment options, the Vikings' biggest enemy is apathy."

And there's no apathy when it comes to fans' feelings toward Favre. Rash said initial sales of Favre merchandise would have been higher had he not said no to joining the team before the start of training camp. But any lingering anger should abate if Favre shows himself capable of leading the Vikings to the playoffs, and beyond.

"As with all sports, winning seems to gloss over everything,'' Rash said.

It's a little more difficult to gauge whether Favre's signing will reenergize the drive for a Vikings stadium; the team's Metrodome lease expires in 2011.

"Maybe in the minds of the Vikings it puts a shot of interest in the public that wasn't there a week ago," said state Sen. Don Betzold, DFL-Fridley, who helped lead a Vikings stadium bid for Anoka County in 2006. "But in the end, when it gets to the Legislature being asked to fund a billion-dollar stadium ... [the signing] doesn't quite answer the question of how we're going to pay for it.''

Still, experts predict the signing will have quite an impact. Longtime marketer Dave Mona, chairman of Weber Shandwick's Bloomington office, said, only half-joking, the fallout of the signing might extend well beyond the Vikings.

"Maybe this will bring the area out of its retail slump,'' he said.