If you think the Kansas City Chiefs’ brutal Super Bowl loss was embarrassing, think of all of the merchandise that got printed beforehand to celebrate a win — and which now needs to disappear.
Every January, the National Football League is presented with a problem: Two teams play in the Super Bowl, but only one wins — and the merch to celebrate that win needs to be distributed immediately.
Meanwhile, a trove of T-shirts, jerseys, sweatshirts and hats that seemingly hail from an alternate reality — with this year’s batch declaring the Chiefs the “Super Bowl LII Champions” instead of the Philadelphia Eagles — also must be liquidated.
That creates “waste,” according to nonprofit Good360, which for more than a decade has worked with the NFL to redistribute the unlucky merchandise of losing Super Bowl teams.
But Good360, which ranked No. 2 in Forbes’ top 10 charities list last year, also has another speciality, too: making sure the merch doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.
That means “focusing on regions where the NFL is not widely followed, reducing the likelihood of resale, and trusted partnerships working with vetted nonprofit partners that have demonstrated a track record of responsible distribution,” according to Good360 CEO Cinira Baldi.
This year, it remains unclear where the ill-fated Chiefs merchandise may end up, but Good360 said past destination countries have included Ukraine, Estonia, Mongolia, and Latvia.
Unauthorized merchandise disrupts the NFL’s strictly adhered to branding guide, which states that all NFL communication should stand in support of brand values — one of which is anti-bullying.
In 2015, the Seattle Seahawks XLIX Super Bowl winning merchandise was leaked on online, sparking heated debates and nasty remarks online as the New England Patriots had actually won the game 28-24.
“I live up here and hate the Seachickens. I want a shirt or hat just to rub it in,” one user commented on SportsLogos.net.
Others commented that the leaked Seahawks lime green design was “ugly” and “a few shades away from puke green.”
The NFL and other pro sports leagues have partnered with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security to create Operation Team Player Initiative — seizing counterfeit sports merchandise to uphold the economic vitality of the US.
Right before last Sunday’s Super Bowl game, Operation Team Player Initiative seized $39.5 million in counterfeit goods.
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