NFLShop.com accidentally posted some Cincinnati Bengals gear showing them as the champions of Super Bowl LVI, but those pages have since been removed from the site.
“The 2021 NFL season was full of excitement, but the greatest part was seeing your Cincinnati Bengals take their rightful place as the best team in the league,” a listing for a Bengals championship sweatshirt read on the site late Sunday night.
>> Cincinnati Bengals fall in Super Bowl LVI to Los Angeles Rams
But, that’s not what happened, as the Bengals lost to the Rams 23-20. So, what does happen to the championship gear that is ready to go when a team ends up losing the big game?
Virginia-based non-profit Good360 will be handling the losing team’s Super Bowl merchandise, according to a report from the LA Times.
The NFL sends retailers the address of a Good360 warehouse, where the non-profit’s employees assemble it and prepare it for shipping overseas.
The clothing then ends up in countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and South America, chief marketing officer for Good360 Shari Rudolph told the LA Times.
“With this donation it’s a bit sensitive, so we don’t disclose the exact locations they go,” Rudolph said.
Good360 has partnered with the league since 2015 and also does the same for NFC and AFC championship games, as well as the World Series.