Super Bowl or Super Waste? Here's What Happens to the Super Bowl Losers' Merchandise

On Feb. 9, 2025, the Philadelphia Eagles clinched the title of Super Bowl champions. They not only made history by defeating the Kansas City Chiefs in a game that most talking heads thought they would lose, but they also stomped out Kansas City's plans to celebrate their third consecutive Super Bowl win, a phrase everyone had been calling a "three-peat."

Everyone was so sure Kansas City had the game in the bag that merchandise featuring this phrase had already been produced.

When Philadelphia won, the Chiefs found themselves in a position that every other Super Bowl loser has been in: what to do with the unusable merch? Both teams typically make shirts touting themselves as the next Super Bowl champs ahead of time so that fans can scoop them up immediately after the big game.

So, what do they do with the shirts that the losing team makes for the Super Bowl? Keep reading to find out.

Companies are forced to find creative solutions to offload unwanted merchandise. Merch also isn't just t-shirts: it can include hats and other collectibles as well.

According to USA Today, the NFL has been donating the merch for the losing teams to various nonprofits.

The NFL does this by partnering with Good360 to find recipients the charitable organization believes are most in need. Once these groups are identified, the NFL collects the unsold merchandise from stadiums and the other retailers that get early shipments with the losing team's logos. Then, they will send it to approved nonprofits around the globe.

"We clearly want these products to be utilized, but we don't want the products to be popping up for sale on a platform, and we don't want to have a spotlight on the losing team in that way," Good360's CEO, Cinira Baldi, told USA Today. "The clubs wouldn't want to be a part of something like that."

The Hill says some unused merch will be shipped to countries like Latvia, Ukraine, Estonia, and more. While Georgia the country is on the list of recipients for 2025, it's unlikely that anyone in Georgia the state — or any other U.S. state for that matter — will have an opportunity to wear any of the gear from the losing teams.

“The NFL has strict controls to ensure that the general public will never see it,” a representative from Good360 added.

While the efforts of Good360 and the NFL may be well-intentioned, the waste created by the influx of these garments can put a strain on the region where they are being offloaded.

TikTok user @roaringtravel posted a video about his discovery while visiting Africa when he learned that many of the items donated in the area were resold or tossed into the Nairobi River.

Similarly, a 2021 paper by the Changing Markets Foundation says that most clothing sent to other countries as part of a donation becomes a burden for locals.

Instead, most experts say that items should be repurposed or recycled instead.

While that may mean that turning all of those "three-peat" shirts into bedding for local shelter animals is the best way to repurpose them, it's unlikely that it will happen with the football gear. 

With the NFL's commitment to ensuring that these unusable items don't end up in the general public's hands, they will probably continue to send them to areas where they are likely to remain hidden from public view.