A pop quiz for fans who bleed orange: Which is faster, a Peyton Manning audible or the speed of Broncos merchandise flying off store shelves?
On Sunday, Manning was pretty darn quick. But on Monday, sales of Broncos AFC championship items started fast and showed no signs of slowing.
“It’s been crazy, crazy busy,” said Brandon Yergey, community marketing manager for Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Retailers, it turns out, take leaps of faith that make normal fans look stoic by comparison.
Stores order Broncos-logoed “AFC Champions” clothing in advance, then hope like crazy that the right team wins. They can’t afford to not have merchandise available as soon as the final whistle blows.
Big retailers such as Dick’s and Sports Authority began selling the Broncos championship wear immediately after the game, then opened at 6 a.m. Monday to serve fevered fans.
Yergey said the pre-dawn scene Monday at the Dick’s in Lakewood’s Belmar was reminiscent of Black Friday. About a dozen customers were waiting outside the store, forcing store staffers to cut them a break and open doors early at 5:45.
If the football game goes the wrong way — sorry, New England — merchants have a problem. The Boston Herald reports that northeastern regional retailer Modell’s Sporting Goods made a $500,000 bet that the Patriots would win by bringing in their own version of the AFC Champions gear.
“We took a tremendous risk,” CEO Mitch Modell told the Herald. Modell said the National Football League forbids the sale of such losing-team apparel, even as a novelty, so Modell’s will donate it to a third-world country.
Yergey said Dick’s was selling out of its original allotment Monday but was getting in new shipments of the championship merchandise, printed by Denver-based KSE Imprints.
At the SportsFan store on the 16th Street Mall, business was hectic Saturday and Sunday, then hectic all over again when the store received its shipment of Broncos AFC Champions clothing around noon Monday.
“It’s been busy for sure,” said store manager Mark McManmon.
Commemorative championship T-shirts were selling briskly at $28 each, he said. But the top sellers continued to be Manning jerseys, priced at $100 to $260.
Steve Raabe: 303-954-1948, sraabe@denverpost.com or twitter.com/steveraabedp
