Thousands of T-shirts that would have adorned happy Seahawks fans if the Super Bowl had turned out differently will instead head to people in need in developing countries, according to news site GlobalPost.
According to GlobalPost, the NFL partnered with nonprofit Good360 this year to distribute merchandise that had been pre-printed in anticipation of a Seahawks win over the Patriots.
The T-shirts, towels, caps and other goods are estimated to have been worth $2 million had the Seahawks pulled off the last-minute win, according to GlobalPost.
Seattle-area stores had been ready to stay open late to sell the Seahawks Super Bowl shirts, according to The Guardian, but it was not to be.
Well, @12s here's what the #BackToBack shirts would have looked like! #Seahawks pic.twitter.com/zUoIxc5HS8
— Kristen Drew (@KDrewKOMO) February 2, 2015
The NFL stopped destroying the losing team’s shirts in 1996 and initially partnered with Federal Way-based World Vision for distributions, according to The Guardian’s story.
GlobalPost noted that critics of the practice criticize the waste in pre-printing thousands of shirts that no one will buy and disrupting possible local sales of clothing in the areas where unwanted shirts are sent.
Read more:
GlobalPost: There’s an alternate universe where the Seahawks won the Super Bowl
The Guardian: What happens to the losing team’s Super Bowl championship shirts?
