Eagles' First Super Bowl Win Leads To Impressive Merch Sales
Fanatics said that the Eagles' victory is projected to lead to the second-best championship sales in its history
NFLSHOP.COM
Modell's Sporting Goods CEO Mitch Modell, who has 28 stores in what he considers to be Eagles territory, said this will be the retailer's "all-time best championship," according to Darren Rovell of ESPN.com. Given the locations of the stores and the fact that it was the Eagles' first Super Bowl title, Modell said that he "expected to do at least 10 times better business with the Eagles winning." A spokersperson for Fanatics, which runs NFLShop.com, said that the Eagles' victory is "projected to lead to the second-best championship sales in its history, falling right behind" the Cubs' World Series title in '16. Sales in the first nine hours after the Eagles' win were up 60% "compared to the first nine hours for the Patriots' championship last year" (ESPN.com, 2/5). In Philadelphia, John Kopp noted "thousands of fans" yesterday stopped by Modell's at 16th and Chestnut streets, and "virtually all of them wanted to get their Eagles championship gear as soon as possible." Modell's in Center City opened its doors shortly after the Super Bowl ended around 10:20pm ET and fans "immediately flocked in, looking to grab championship shirts, hats and sweatshirts." Outside, "crowds of people broke out into Eagles chant after Eagles chant." The store "temporarily closed" around 1:00am before reopening at 5:30am. Store manager Lane Davis said that knitted hats "commemorating the Eagles' Super Bowl win were among the hottest items." By 11:00am, the store had "sold out of them" (PHILLYVOICE.com, 2/5).
ON THE FLIP SIDE: In Boston, Janelle Nanos notes throughout New England yesterday, local businesses were "busy strategizing a game plan that didn’t involve post-Super Bowl sales." This year, Mahlon Williams, whose company I Love Boston Sports produces T-shirts and other Pats-themed gear, "spent about $5,000 to commission a illustration of Tom Brady as a 'Big Game Hunter,' with the taxidermied heads of all of his defeated teams prominently as trophies." Williams said that instead of selling thousands of shirts, he "released the image on social media, and was on the receiving end of the cancellation calls from vendors all morning" (BOSTON GLOBE, 2/6).
FLY PATTERN: Fanatics began tracking the demand of fan orders from around the country right after the Super Bowl and created a real-time heat map video to illustrate the quick growth of geographic sales immediately after the game (Fanatics).
