Menu
Marketing and Sponsorship

Alabama Fans Rush Stores Monday Night, Merchandise Sales Rise After Championship

Univ. of Alabama fans “packed area stores" yesterday in search of BCS National Championship apparel, and championship T-shirts and caps “were the hottest items in town,” according to Patrick Rupinski of the TUSCALOOSA NEWS. The Academy Sports & Outdoors location in Tuscaloosa “opened Monday night 10 minutes after the game ended." Store Manager Cory Earp said that they had “a waiting line of customers.” Earp: “We stayed open until 2:30 a.m. until the last customer was taken care of.” Bama Fever Manager Verna Rowland said that business at the shop “was better than Christmas.” The Tuscaloosa News “doubled its usual press run to 75,000 newspapers Tuesday morning and had a steady stream of customers buying copies at its lobby.” The paper also is selling for $5 “three separate 11-inch by 17-inch glossy posters depicting Tuesday’s front page, Tuesday’s sports page front and a collage of photos.” The paper indicated that by Friday afternoon it hopes to have a “large limited edition glossy poster that will be about 12 inches by 21 inches showing Tuesday’s front page with coach Nick Saban holding the BCS championship trophy under a headline ‘Zero Doubt.’” The Tuscaloosa News also “will bring out a limited edition hardcover book, ‘Crimson Reign,’ which will cover the 2011 Crimson Tide football season including full recount of the BCS championship game” (TUSCALOOSA NEWS, 1/11). The Huntsville Times also is selling posters of yesterday's front page and sports section front page. The paper additionally will publish "Tragedy to Triumph: The Road to the BCS Championship," which will be “available to pre-order on The Times' online store." Meanwhile, Dick’s Sporting Goods Community Marketing Manager Kim Bittinger said there was a "huge demand for merchandise” at the two Huntsville locations. The stores were open “right after the game until about 1 a.m. Tuesday” (AL.com, 1/10). Steve Brannon, the manager of an Academy Sports location in Decatur, Ala., said that “many items sold out, and the line stretched out of the store and down the sidewalk.” Brannon: “Alabama merchandise sells extremely well, especially when they win a national championship. Then it goes through the roof” (DECATUR DAILY, 1/11).

BISON BASH
: North Dakota State Univ. won the FCS National Championship last Saturday, and Fargo-based WDAY-ABC's Kelsey Roseth reported lines for championship apparel "stretched out the door" before stores even opened. WDAY’s Danielle Miller reported the phones at Fargo-based Scheels "started ringing before the game finished and haven’t stopped since.” Scheels Assistant Store Leader Jesse Connell said, “We weren't sure what to expect. We‘ve been fielding phone calls all morning so we knew there was going to be a little bit of a rush, but you know we had a handful of people when we opened so it’s been fun.” Connell added, "The official stuff from the locker room and the caps ... we’ll be getting those later this week. So [there will] be new stuff coming all week” (WDAY-ABC, 1/8). Meanwhile, NDSU AD Gene Taylor said that the championship run has been “profitable in terms of booster club contributions, ticket sales, advertising and corporate donations.” He said that he “can’t put a dollar amount on it, but estimates those benefits to be at least in the six-figure range” (AP, 1/10).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2012/01/11/Marketing-and-Sponsorship/Alabama.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2012/01/11/Marketing-and-Sponsorship/Alabama.aspx

CLOSE