A few days ago, the staff at Tuscaloosa’s Academy Sports began receiving boxes.
Kept under lock and key in an undisclosed room in the store, the boxes came with strict instructions not to open unless the Crimson Tide football team wins the College Football Playoff national championship Monday night.
Manager Tim Fischer knows that specialized T-shirts and hats celebrating the team’s possible [...]
A few days ago, the staff at Tuscaloosa’s Academy Sports began receiving boxes.
Kept under lock and key in an undisclosed room in the store, the boxes came with strict instructions not to open unless the Crimson Tide football team wins the College Football Playoff national championship Monday night.
Manager Tim Fischer knows that specialized T-shirts and hats celebrating the team’s possible win are what are likely inside the boxes, but what they look like are anyone’s guess.
"We don’t mess with it until Monday," said Fischer, who has managed the Academy’s Skyland Boulevard location for the last three years.
Like Academy, several local stores across Tuscaloosa are gearing up for Monday’s game and the potential revenue they could make if the Tide beats the Georgia Bulldogs in Atlanta.
In fact, Academy will be ready to sell shirts the minute the game is over that night, but only if Bama wins. Dick’s Sporting Goods will also expand its store hours if Bama wins, as well as open as early as 6 a.m. Tuesday with more championship merchandise. Hibbett Sports at 1800 McFarland Blvd. in Northport also plans to open after the game with merchandise to sell in the event of an Alabama win.
Fischer said that anytime the Tide has won the national championship the last few years, Academy has always sold out of merchandise very quickly.
"The hats and shirts the players wear after the game always sell fast," Fischer said.
Chloe McKinney, manager of Bama Fever, said that if Bama won the game, the store would begin receiving championship merchandise the next day. In addition, the store makes its own shirts to be sold after the championship.
"Whenever they win, our company will make shirts and we’ll get them as fast as we can in the morning," McKinney said.
Like Academy, Bama Fever has also benefited from merchandise sales following a national championship victory for Bama.
"It sells pretty fast, but we’ll just restock every day," McKinney said.
However, Amanda Mynatt is a unique position to benefit regardless of who wins the championship. Mynatt, marketing director for Alumni Hall, said stores in both Alabama and Georgia would be ready to offer both kinds of merchandise catering to both teams. However, only the Tuscaloosa stores would sell Alabama gear.
"Some things we don’t get until after the game is over," Mynatt said. "An employee will drive to pick up that merchandise."
On Monday, Alumni Hall will let customers know about special store openings contingent on who wins the game.
"Sometimes, we’ll open early or stay late," she said. "If that does happen, we do promote it on social media."
But what happens to the championship merchandise if Bama does not win? The decision is simple.
"We just ship it back," Fischer said. "It all comes from corporate headquarters."
However, that won’t stop Fischer and others from working Monday night to make sure things are ready and the store is ready to greet customers in the moments after a Bama victory.
"For lack of a better word, it’s helter-skelter trying to get things done," he said.
Reach Drew Taylor at drew.taylor@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0204.