Favre’s Return to NFL May Boost Vikings on and off the Field

By Erik Matuszewski

Aug. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Brett Favre’s latest comeback may lift the Minnesota Vikings on and off the field.

The National Football League’s all-time leading passer and three-time Most Valuable Player yesterday agreed to join a team that last season boasted the league’s top-gaining running back and stingiest rush defense.

Favre’s arrival in Minneapolis has lowered the Vikings’ odds of winning the Super Bowl and his presence will boost sales of tickets and merchandise, said Rick Gentile, professor of sports management at Seton Hall University in New Jersey.

“It’s a win for the NFL, it’s a win for the Vikings during the baseball season, it’s good for the Fox network, it’s good for all (television) rights holders,” Gentile, a former CBS Sports executive, said in a telephone interview. “That high could last all year if he has a good season.”

Favre’s return for a 19th season comes less than a month after he told Vikings coach Brad Childress that he’d stay retired and about three weeks before the team’s Sept. 13 regular-season opener in Cleveland.

While he missed all of training camp, Favre comes with quarterback records including 464 touchdown passes and 65,127 passing yards. ESPN said he signed a one-year contract worth $10-12 million.

‘Experience and Leadership’

“It really is a perfect fit,” Favre, who spent his first 16 seasons with the Green Bay Packers, said yesterday during a news conference. “We have a really good football team here, a really good running game and I felt I could offer some experience and leadership.”

The Vikings wasted no time in touting their new addition.

“Are you ready 4 some football?” was the message posted on the team’s Web site minutes after the signing, a reference to Favre’s jersey number. There was also a link to purchase Favre jerseys for $260, or earrings and shot glasses bearing his name and number.

Favre had the best-selling jersey in the league with the Jets last season and the NFL Network said yesterday that NFLShop.com sold out the initial allotment of his 1,200 Vikings jerseys within hours.

Favre will probably also help ticket sales. While the Vikings had about 55,000 season-ticket holders last year, they failed to sell out several games and turned to sponsors to buy tickets to avoid local television blackouts, according to the Business Journal of Milwaukee.

Super Bowl Odds

Favre’s arrival has dropped the Vikings’ odds of winning the Super Bowl to 14-1, according to Las Vegas Sports Consultants, which advises Nevada sports books on betting lines. Minnesota, which had odds of 22-1 at the end of last season, is the eighth favorite among the NFL’s 32 teams.

Former quarterback Ron Jaworski, now an analyst for ESPN, said the Vikings are now “the team to beat” in the National Football Conference.

“They are now a complete team,” Jaworski said.

Minnesota last year made the playoffs with a 10-6 record, yet a different quarterback has led the team in passing yards each of the past three seasons. Favre now moves to the top of the depth chart, ahead of Sage Rosenfels and Tarvaris Jackson.

“We felt like we had an opportunity to add a piece to the puzzle,” Childress said at a news conference. “The more good tools you can have on a team, the better off you are.”

Several months ago, Favre appeared poised to join the Vikings after having surgery to repair a torn biceps muscle in his throwing arm, an injury suffered last season with the Jets.

High School Rehab

He met with Vikings’ officials, underwent rehabilitation and worked out with a high school team in his home town of Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

He then decided to remain retired before the start of the Vikings’ training camp, having also found a tear in his shoulder’s rotator cuff.

When Childress reached out again two days ago, Favre said he reconsidered after talking to James Andrews, who performed his surgery.

“I had to be reassured that this wouldn’t be an issue once again, but my arm has felt good,” said Favre, who led the Jets to an 8-3 start last season but struggled to a 1-4 finish with the torn muscle.

Favre has started 269 consecutive games, the longest streak by a quarterback and one short of the NFL record held by former Viking Jim Marshall.

“After I said no three weeks ago, at times I was okay with it, other times I felt like I could really help that team,” Favre said. “That was the competitive fire in me. I didn’t want to look back. I didn’t want to say, ‘What if?’”

After opening the regular season against Cleveland, Detroit and San Francisco, Minnesota hosts the Packers on Oct. 5, five days before Favre’s 40th birthday. The Vikings visit the Packers on Nov. 1.

“I think I made the right decision,” said Favre, who might play in the Vikings’ next exhibition game on Aug. 21. “Time will tell.”
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