OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — No doubt Chiefs Kingdom is still feeling the blow of a Super Bowl loss.
There was so much anticipation and excitement, and many stores had plans to sell new Super Bowl LV gear as soon as the game ended. But have you ever wondered what happens with all that merchandise?
Academy Sports and Outdoors said it’s “out of sight, out of mind” after a tough loss for the Chiefs. Unopened boxes of Super Bowl championship gear get packed up and put on a truck to ship out.
“It’s kind of disappointing,” store manager Joe Barton said.
Barton said the amount of merchandise is similar to how much it stings.
“A lot!” Barton said. “We had multiple, multiple boxes, pallets of them. We were getting more stuff in (Monday) if we would’ve won. So we do have to send all that stuff back to the vendor now.”
The only champion shirts hanging on store racks are touting Kansas City’s AFC win. If the Chiefs would have won in Tampa, you know there would be Super Bowl gear galore.
So when a big game doesn’t go your team’s way, what happens to all the already-printed items?
For the past seven years, the NFL has partnered with a charity called Good360. It distributes pre-printed items sporting a losing team’s logo to people in need around the world including places like Africa, the Middle East, Western Europe and Asia.
“We know for sure that the areas where these items will ultimately end up, there’s a verified need for those types of goods in those communities,” Good360 Chief Development Officer Shari Rudolph said.
All the shirts, sweatshirts, hats and (new this year) face masks will cover, clothe and touch down in struggling communities.
“Clothing is one of those things that can be truly transformational for people in need, and this is obviously good quality items, warm clothes,” Rudolph said.”
If there’s any silver lining surrounding a hard-fought season and falling short of the Lombardi trophy, it’s helping people in need. We can move forward knowing the Chiefs are champions in our hearts and other parts of the world.
