Scott, Brent and Justin were in charge of making the jersey magic happen behind the scenes at the 2018 NFL Draft.
The first night of the NFL Draft 2018 kicked off at the AT & T Stadium in Dallas to the roar of thousands of fans. And for the seventh year in a row, a team from Stahls’ DFC was behind the scenes, working with Nike to make sure each draftee received a personalized jersey. Thanks to very careful and extensive pre-planning, the night went off without a hitch. As I mentioned earlier this week, a lot of preparation goes into making sure we are able to print the correct jersey with the correct name and get it into the Commissioner’s hands on time. We have less than two minutes to make it happen. The “jersey room” behind the stage is where all the magic happens. The room is outfitted with two Hotronix heat presses and racks of Nike jerseys for each team. There are drawers filled with pre-cut names of all potential draftees, ready to be heat applied as soon as the picks are made. It’s all very top secret and no one in the room knows the names until the last minute. After the jerseys are heat printed, they are handed off to be brought on stage. This year, many “Super Fans” had the opportunity to participate. Our team ran into the Detroit Lions Super Fans, who had won a lottery held by Ticketmaster for the honor. One really great thing about the fan participation in the NFL Draft is we get to see everyone wearing jerseys. The entire stadium was packed with people wearing NFL jerseys.
The Nike Jersey Room is literally behind a curtain. It’s where the magic all happens.
There are multiple NIKE jerseys ready and waiting to be heat printed in the jersey room at the NFL Draft.
Super fans are allowed to wait in the Jersey Room but they can’t see the name of the player’s being printed until the jersey is presented by the Commissioner.
Siblings Kedna and Kenny Sall of Grand Rapids,, Michigan won a super fan lottery sponsored by Ticketmaster and were able to attend the 2018 NFL Draft with the opportunity to present a jersey onstage to the Lion’s draftee.
Which material is used for the names?
We are using Stahls’ CAD-CUT PermaTwill for the names here. This material is available for cutting or you can order names from us cut in this material. It is a polyester twill material backed with a permanent adhesive. After proper heat application, no sewing is required.