Let's make one thing very clear, the Buffalo Sabres don't actually owe their fans a damn thing. The $49 dollars off that they are giving anyone that wants their Jack Eichel jersey to be both numerically accurate and associated with a future that can't possibly be as dark as the past three seasons is a nice gesture, but it's far from a necessary one. A superstar randomly changing to a new number when the old one is stitched on to the back of 75% of a home crowd that thought their investment would be safe for the next eight years might provide the most ruthless of reminders, but every single person (over the age of 12) that chooses to wear a professional athlete's name on their back does so with the understanding that its authenticity is temporary. The inherent issue of roster fluidity, however, isn't the main reason that a sports team shouldn't feel obligated to extend an olive branch to their long suffering fanbase. The main reason they should just charge full price to any and every person that's fiscally inclined to keep their wardrobe up to date with the professional progression of Jack Eichel is that any price deduction short of 100% isn't anywhere near enough to offset the emotional and financial toll that the Sabres sucking has taken on the fine folks of Buffalo. Giving even one single dollar off on a second $200+ jersey bearing the same last name of a transcendent player whose efforts have been wasted by the ineptitude of the organization that drafted him is an admission that atonement is due, and if atonement is due then it's due in a hell of a lot more than $49 dollar increments. Simply put, coming off a season in which you finished dead last in your division for the 4th time in five years, it's more insulting to offer a discount that's smaller than the percentage of games you won than not offering a discount at all. then don't even offer a discount at all. In a "don't bother paying until you plan on paying in full" sort of way, it's not about about the payment as much as the principle. For that reason, a genuine, heartfelt apology that reads "sorry...for literally everything" might actually go further with Sabres' fans than a single nosebleed seat's worth of savings on a redundant expense. Sidenote: I don't encourage torching jerseys as a display of fandom, but if Jack Eichel eventually bolts after pulling this move then the record he's going to hold in the amount of ash formed by the burning of his likeness will be a well-deserved one.
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