The process of preparing NHL teams and fans with championship apparel "starts in the summer, 10 months before the next year’s Stanley Cup final," as the league works with Reebok and '47 Brand "on designs," according to Matthew Gutierrez of the PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE. Four or five months out, the NHL will "land on a T-shirt design and begin taking pre-orders in the various markets in contention for the Stanley Cup." While the fans celebrate, manufacturers and stores "will crank the machines and hustle -- preparing apparel within seconds of the game’s end." NHL Group VP/Consumer Products Licensing James Haskins said, "It’s slide-down-the-fire-pole, SWAT-mode the moment the team wins. ... We’ll schedule deliveries with local retailers. We’ll synchronize when their trucks and our trucks are literally backed up to the local printing press to pick up their order. Over the last five years, technology has created a speed that allows us to harness this more readily and serve the fan better during the peak moment.” Gutierrez notes there are "three phases following a Stanley Cup final win." First is the fan’s "immediate demand for a championship product within 24 hours of the game." Second is the city-wide Stanley Cup victory parade, when fans "want the parade T-shirts." The third phase "lasts through the summer and into the fall" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 6/10).
FAN FRENZY: In S.F., Benny Evangelista notes being "available anytime and anywhere is a strategy that has boosted Fanatics into a sports merchandising powerhouse" with more than $1.1B in annual sales, up from $186M in '10. As the NBA Finals move to Game 4 on Friday night, sales are "already riding a game-by-game roller coaster". Warriors gear "was selling well until Wednesday’s rampage" by the Cavaliers. Overnight, sales of Cavs gear on Fanatics increased by 60%. Fanatics CEO Doug Mack said that the "biggest surges come during the first seven days after a team wins a championship" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 6/10).
