Repurposing Super Bowl Merchandise: What Happens to the Losing Team’s Gear?
With the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl 57 win, Philadelphia Eagles players and fans didn’t have the chance to don their team’s championship shirts, hats, and other merchandise. But what happens to all the gear created for the losing team?
After sports championships like the Super Bowl, NBA Finals, World Series, and other major sporting events, fans want to be able to purchase championship gear as soon as the winner is declared. Branded merchandise companies pre-print merchandise like shirts, sweatshirts, hats, and towels for both teams so these items are available immediately after the championship ends. Luckily, instead of wasting this perfectly usable merchandise, much of it gets donated to charitable organizations that distribute the items around the world to individuals in need.
The National Football League (NFL)’s excess merchandise partner is Good360, a charitable organization based in Alexandria, Virginia. The losing Super Bowl and conference championships teams’ merchandise is held in inventory locations across the United States, and following the games, Good360 is informed of how much product is available. They determine where the donations can best be of service internationally and decide which of their pre-qualified overseas partners to distribute the merchandise to. All the gear is sent to an undisclosed U.S. location where it is gathered, and working with transportation partners, Good360 ships out the merchandise about two weeks after the Super Bowl.
“That’s really important for us, that we make sure that we align where the products are going based on need, and not just sending them blindly into a region where they may not be needed,” Good360 Chief Development Officer and Chief Marketing Officer Shari Rudolph told USA Today.
Good360 has distributed more than $14 billion in goods since the organization’s inception and also works with many other partners to facilitate donations including Nike and Disney.
For almost two decades before Good360 took over the NFL’s excess goods distribution in 2015, an international humanitarian aid organization called World Vision facilitated donations of goods for NFL and MLB runners-up. World Vision shipped the merchandise to countries around the world.
As the licensed sports merchandise industry grows, each championship will lead to more shirts, hats, and other branded merchandise. At least the losing teams and their fans can take comfort in knowing their gear is being put to good use by individuals who need it.
Does your company have obsolete branded merchandise you’d like to keep from becoming waste by having it matched with a good cause? We can help! Learn more about how SwagCycle can help your company or organization repurpose, recycle, and donate your branded merchandise.
Sources:
https://www.qualitylogoproducts.com/blog/losing-team-championship-merchandise/
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/29884/what-happens-losing-teams-championship-shirts
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/02/us/super-bowl-2020-merchandise-spt-trnd/index.html