Super Bowl: What happens with the losing team’s merchandise?

(NEXSTAR) – Just seconds after the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers Sunday night, fans could score merch proudly naming the Chiefs the Super Bowl LVIII champions. But the same would have been true if the 49ers had won.

That’s because the NFL is prepared to sell hats, T-shirts and hoodies for either team, no matter who wins. But what happens with all that clothing with the losers’ logo?

The NFL is working with nonprofit Good360 again this year to keep the pre-made, unused apparel out of the landfill. The organization collects the clothing items and ships them to “vetted nonprofit partners” around the world, Good360 said.

This year, the merchandise is heading over to nonprofits in Ukraine, Mongolia, Georgia, Estonia and Latvia.

“But you definitely won’t see it on anyone in America,” wrote Shari Rudolph , the nonprofit’s chief marketing and development officer. “The NFL has strict controls to ensure that the general public will never see it.”

The donation will include merchandise from the Super Bowl losers, as well as that of teams that lost the AFC and NFC Championships, the Baltimore Ravens and the Detroit Lions.

It’s not exactly clear how much merchandise gets donated this way, but Good360 said it’s “thousands of items.” To avoid wasting resources, the losing team’s merchandise first goes to a central warehouse. When there are enough donations to fill a shipping container, it will be sent overseas.

This is the 10th year Good360 is partnering with the NFL to make better use of the losing teams’ merchandise.

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