September 7, 2008
When is a legal name change not a legal name change? When the NFL is involved, of course.
Last week, Cincinnati Bengals wide-receiver Chad Johnson legal changed his name from “Chad Johnson” to “Chad Ocho Cinco” (queue “Oh No You Didn’t” song from the Mercenaries video game commercial). So, as we begin week 1 of the NFL season, we’d be expecting to see “Ocho Cinco” on the back of the receiver formerly known as Chad Johnson, right? Well, not so much. From ESPN,
According to a press release by the Cincinnati Bengals, the NFL informed Ocho Cinco earlier Sunday that he will have to wear his original name on the back of his jersey. Ocho Cinco stepped on the field Sunday with the nameplate “C. Johnson.”
The receiver had a legal name change in the state of Florida this summer so he could wear his former nickname of “Ocho Cinco” this season. Although the NFL recognized the name change, the release says “certain issues remain [with the NFL] to be resolved before Ocho Cinco will be permitted to wear his new surname on his jersey.’”
Contacted Sunday by The Associated Press, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said, “He has a financial obligation to Reebok, which produces the jerseys available to fans. That has to be resolved before the on-field jersey can be changed.
So, it looks like if Ocho Cinco wants his name on the back of his shirt, he’s going to be giving some money to Reebok to cover whatever production costs they suffered. Reebok asked Cincinnati Bengals Linebacker Keith Rivers to pay $11K last week to cover his number change, Chad Johnson will probably be paying considerably more money based on his popularity and the number of jerseys that are produced.
For everyone saying, “but Reebok will make so much money with the Ocho Cinco jerseys…why won’t they just let the name change happen?” To those people I have three little words…breach of contract.
ESPN: NFL: ‘Financial Obligations Remains’ before Ocho Cinco Jersey
One comment
Perhaps Reebok is concerned the Ocho Cinco jerseys won’t be the big hit some might think, considering the Bengals are fast becoming one of the biggest frauds ever committed on the NFL fans who think they know talented teams when they see them. Marvin Lewis should have been fired two years ago and after Week One they look like they might have trouble winning more than a couple games this season. I think the whole lot of ‘em are head cases…T.J. is rarely on the field, Chad pouts, the running backs never get it done in crunch time, there’s been no defense since the “defensive-minded” Lewis arrived. No, I think a Bengals jersey is not what most NFL fans have in mind, regardless of the novelty of Chad’s latest name…probably won’t be his last either. Now if you want to produce a Cincinnati jersey with Prison stripes instead of Bengal stripes, then you’re on to somethin’!
Trackbacks