#SBLVIII threads 🪡
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) February 1, 2024
We here at Uni Watch don’t necessarily concern ourselves with the retail side of uniforms, but let’s say you’re a fan of one of the Super Bowl teams for SB 58, and you just have to have that official Super Bowl jersey to wear for the big watch party you’ll be attending next Sunday? Well, if you’re a fan of the 49ers (and to a lesser extent, KC), good luck with that.
As you know, with KC the designated “home” team for the big game, the team has chosen to wear its red jerseys.
All patched up. pic.twitter.com/u3KbgxiHql
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) January 30, 2024
So that leaves the 49ers to wear white jerseys, just like they did when the teams met four years ago in Supe 54.
Now, I’d venture that there are a large chunk of SF fans who 1) already own a white jersey they’ll don for the game; 2) have a red jersey (or t-shirt or sweatshirt, etc.) they’ll wear during the game; 3) don’t get dressed up in fan gear for the game at all. But there are two types of fans who probably do want to wear “what the team is wearing” (including the Super Bowl LVIII patch) — those who don’t own any gear and those true die hards who have to have the “proper” jersey to rep the squad. (For KC fans — particularly those who only recently became “fans” due to the Traylor Swelce romance, there are probably legions of fans who are dying to get a red KC jersey for their Super Bowl party, but we’ll get to that shortly.)
Anyway, if you’re that SF fan who wants a white jersey with the Supe patch…you’re basically SOL.
Here’s why: Fanatics, who secured a deal a few years back to become the NFL’s exclusive manufacturer and distributor of team gear — ergo, the only “official” place to score a SB 58 jersey — doesn’t have any white 49ers jerseys in stock.
OK, no problem you say, I can just wear the 49ers SB red jersey. Well, that’s gonna be a problem too, because while Fanatics does have some SB-patched red jerseys (which the team will NOT be wearing) for sale, they won’t even ship in time for the Supe. You can expect to receive your red 49ers jersey to ship February 14, which is three days after the game will have been played.
The SF Gate had the scoop on this a couple days ago. From that article:
As of noon P.T. on Jan. 31, the only Super Bowl-branded jerseys that Niners fans can currently purchase are San Francisco’s red home jerseys. Even if authenticity weren’t an issue, a majority of the jerseys, if ordered today, wouldn’t arrive until some days after the Super Bowl. A Deebo Samuel home jersey with a Super Bowl patch comes with a small message that reads “Special Event Item — Ships by 2/14, so it’s not eligible for Super Bowl delivery, but it’s worth the wait!”
If you check out the Fanatics/NFL Shop website, you’ll see they aren’t even offering a white 49ers jersey. The red jerseys all ship after the SB has been played, but if you want a BFBS youth jersey — well, those you can get before the game. Anything else? Fuggetaboutit.
Ai-yi-yi.
It’s not much better for KC fans either. You can at least order a red LVIII-patched jersey, although those ship after the game has been played. According to the SF Gate, “the only home Super Bowl jersey that fans could buy and get in time for the big game is a Travis Kelce jersey in women’s sizing” (although that may satisfy any number of Swifties who are late to the jersey game).
Again, normally Uni Watch wouldn’t be too concerned about fan merchandise, but when the sole (legal) seller of official on-field gear can’t get their customers the “proper” white game jersey at all, and can’t ship the red jersey until after the game has been played, it speaks volumes. Just wait until they become the NHL on ice outfitter next season.
Shocking. Fanatics comes up short and unprepared yet again. This reminds me of last year, when the only SB jersey you could grab was…gray. The leagues should collectively hold Fanatics accountable for what they deliver fans. Which isn’t much. Maybe more focus on product and less on sports betting/casinos would be a good start.
Sadly, as long as the royalty checks clear, I don’t think any of the leagues could care less how Fanatics does business. And that sucks.
IIRC this happened last year too. The only thing that were available for the Eagles was some knock-off BS gray, with a GIGANTIC eagles word mark on the front.
Can’t wait until Fanatics is doing the NHL unit full-time. That should be a huge boon for UW.
I know piling onto Fanatics is like shooting fish in a barrel, but I cannot think of a company (except for Comcast) that treats its customers with such utter disdain. Both KC and SF have been among the best NFL teams all season … even with supply issues (if there are any), I’d like to think their buyers would be thinking to stock up on as much gear for those teams in anticipation of a long playoff run.
I can’t say I love fanatics but I’ve never had an issue with customer service and I’ve ordered items from them a few dozen times over the years. This “issue” is the same one the Packers Pro Shop has after the 2010 Super Bowl which isn’t an issue. It’s not surprising at all they don’t have a huge backlog of jerseys, essentially gambling on who might make the SB. Makes zero sense.
I honestly don’t get the big deal. It’s not surprising at all that a retailer will be out of merchandise at the end of the season. The local pro shop will have the same issue. Seems like a haters ball type of scenario.
Perhaps demand is higher now, but this never seemed to be an issue before Fanatics became the only place to get this stuff.
That’s exactly right. Fanatics is so terrible at stocking anything, even normal jerseys! Last year I was going to a Phillies game, and I really wanted their road jersey, but they didn’t have it. At all. Like what?
It seems like they’ve totally thrown in the towel in actually catering to fans.
I do understand what you’re saying, it is a bit of a first world problem…
but Fanatics did ask for this contract with Da NFL, and I’m sure the contract states that the NFL gets a cut of every Jersey sale so they’re hurting The Shield…
and Goodell has people whose job is to remember these things come negotiation time…
It is still mind boggling to me that a company that is large enough to secure these exclusive deals within major sports remains completely incompetent when it comes to meeting any form of retail demand. I have no words.
Were all of you this upset at Adidas for running out of Argentina jerseys during the WC? Didn’t matter anyway, they produced more and sold them through 2023. Same will happen here if the demand is high enough. This site has become an echo chamber of people being upset at EVERYTHING. As bad as golf Twitter and sneakerheads being upset that a Jordan retro is off by 1/10 inch in height.
To answer your question, no. Soccer fan-jerseys are pretty low on the totem pole when it comes to concerns on this site.
Been following Paul since Page2 so I’m aware but the WC is a far bigger merchandising opportunity. The faux outrage here is laughable. As is the assertion that fanatics doesn’t know whey they’re doing. That’s like ripping Costco or Walmart for product selection.
Don’t see any outrage here, it isn’t as though somebody mentioned David Wells…
Just some honest comments about an actual product about an actual subject of which the website was built for…
And I will add that what is truly laughable is a multi-million dollar Jersey selling company who runs out of merchandise 3 weeks before the biggest event of the League of which it signed a contract…
That is the very definition of a company that does not know how to fulfill it’s only purpose, which is to satisfy customers by selling them and delivering a Jersey when the customer wants it not when they want the customer to have it (i.e. They don’t know what they’re doing)
There are a few things I really don’t get about Fanatics. The first one being how they’re always short of jersey inventory and how long it takes to restock. We are living in peak capitalist world, with plants capable of producing and shipping clothing anywhere in the world under a week time; I don’t understand how Fanatics cannot react quicker to restock, or add jerseys to their inventory.
Secondly, can someone explain why certain products (especially custom Nike Elite jerseys) can’t ship to Canada? Fanatics.ca doesn’t carry them, and Fanatics.com won’t ship them here. But, all jerseys I have ever ordered from fanatics.ca ship from the US anyway!!!
Their customer service is good, but I really don’t understand their inventory management.
Yep, wish there was a “Post of the Day”, you’d have my vote…
I saw this the other day and was wondering if it was because they are shipping their whole stock to Vegas so they can only be bought “on site”.
On the subject, Fanatics will not have the Rangers Stadium Series jerseys ready to ship until more than two weeks after the event takes place, at the earliest
link
It says it doesn’t even come with the patch, either!
These are from the MSG store: not from NHL Shop / Fanatics.
Neither the NHL Shop nor Fanatics even sells the jersey
Random question: does anybody know anything about the logo on LeBron’s hat in this article? TIA
link
That is a Roll With The Winners Cap, you may have to do eBay to get this particular one these days though…
I couldn’t get a Jamarr Chase jersey of *any* kind – with or without a Super Bowl patch, black, orange, or white versions – during the Bengals’ Super Bowl run. I settled on a long-sleeve Joe Burrow shirsey and the god damn print job wasn’t straight. Not even close.
I wasn’t able to get a Chase jersey until March.
How can the “official” supplier not have an away jersey? Or be able to get them to you before the big game? Another reason why Fanatics sucks!
This nonsense has happened as far back as Super Bowl 50, albeit to a lesser extent. Broncos (designated home team) chose to wear white to avoid their “orange curse” which guarantees a blowout loss in those jerseys.
Nike and all retailers were caught off guard by this, so the only white jersey widely available was a plain white game-tier shell with no navy side panels, collar, etc. they simply printed the NOB and numbers on it and slapped an inaccurate (black backing, not clear) plastic SB50 patch on them. Still charged full price of course, which back then was an outrageous $129.99 I think. They did have the “accurate” orange primary and navy alt game jerseys available with the patch at the same price point, but of course those didn’t reflect what was being worn in the big game. If you wanted a limited or elite jersey you were SOL.
Here’s what I don’t understand about fanatics or any nfl retailer why don’t they sell the Super Bowl patch by itself like I already have all the jerseys I just want the patch and not just the embroidered one but the actual plastic patch
They don’t make close to what they could make money wise by just selling the patch. Make a lot more cash by putting the patch on some lame shirt people will pay more money for, just because of the patch. Go Chiefs!
That’s what happens when you only have one game in town.
With the way 3D printing is coming along these days, somebody could just print some of those SB “patches” for friends that already have the correct jersey…
“Traylor Swelce” [: – D