The Montreal Aloutettes wasted no time in capitalizing on their signing of openly gay Michael Sam to their CFL roster. His No. 94 jerseys are already online.
The jerseys have already had their price cut overnight, going from $114 (USD) to $90. You can order one here. When Sam was drafted by the St. Louis Rams last year, his jersey outsold those of established stars like Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees.
The Aloutettes did not sign Sam to sell jerseys, though that is a nice side benefit from having the first openly gay player drafted by an NFL team. The Alouettes feel that Sam will help them on defense as a pass rusher, though they acknowledge his sexual orientation could be an issue for some players.
When asked if his Alouettes teammates would be accepting of him, General Manager Jim Popp said: "I think most guys are, and if they're not, they should be. And if they're not, then we'll help get them educated. It's that simple."
A fellow CFL rival, the Toronto Argonauts sent out this tweet after the Sam signing:
If you can play, you can play. Welcome to the #CFL Michael Sam! Best of luck vs. the @Ticats & @REDBLACKS! #Argos https://t.co/qhDyiEO220
— Toronto Argonauts (@TorontoArgos) May 22, 2015 Sam will see his first regular season action Thursday June 25 at home vs. Ottawa.
Related stories:
—Michael Sam signs with Montreal Alouettes of CFL
—How Sam wound up in Montreal
—Sam hopes to follow in footsteps of other CFL players who made it back to NFL
