It’s Getting Easier Being Green . . . for Merchandisers

After 30 years, the Pack is Back.

The return of the Green Bay Packers to the Super Bowl has revived memories of the old Packers, giving an unexpected boost to merchandise sales.

Sales of Packer paraphernalia are far outpacing that of the New England Patriots, Green Bay’s opponent in Sunday’s football championship game. Among the top-sellers: a shirt bearing the likeness of the late Vince Lombardi, who coached the Packers to consecutive Super Bowl victories in 1966 and ’67.

“There is a sense of history and tradition that is giving Green Bay a national appeal,” said a spokesman for Pro Player Inc., which markets the Lombardi shirt.

Coverage of the playoff games on Fox no doubt helped revive that sense of history. Old footage from previous Packer championship games punctuated the National Football Conference championship, in which Green Bay defeated the Carolina Panthers, an expansion team in 1995.

The pregame show Sunday on Fox will continue down memory lane with a look back at the best Super Bowl players of the last three decades, a lineup that includes four former Packers--defensive players Herb Adderley, Ray Nitschke and Willie Wood, and offensive lineman Jerry Kramer.

Apparel makers expect to clean up if the Packers win, as anticipated. Eddie White, general manager of Logo Athletic, a unit of Virginia-based Tultex Corp., said a Green Bay victory could be worth $10 million to $12 million in merchandise sales for his company, while a win by New England would probably be worth half that.

“You have to remember 30 years ago when they last made the trip to the Super Bowl, fans clamored to Vince Lombardi and that whole Packer thing,” White said. “Green Bay’s fans are border to border and coast to coast.”

Nostalgia about the Packers has also paved the way for ad campaigns. Nike has commercials in which actor Jerry Stiller plays Lombardi, a relentless perfectionist known for his motto: “Winning isn’t everything. It is the only thing.”

Royalties from Lombardi licenses doubled in 1996 to a sum in the upper six figures thanks to renewed interest in the old Packers, according to Curtis Management Group, which negotiated the deals.

Some sports marketers think the appeal of the Packers is deeper than nostalgia about past victories. They say the team is unique in sports in that it is owned by residents of Green Bay, Wis., and thus stands for loyalty and permanence in an era in which teams swap venues seemingly at will.

“A lot of people are fed up with athletes jumping from one team to another and with old franchises leaving cities. It is kind of hard to latch on to players and teams,” said Bob Dorfman of the advertising firm Foote, Cone & Belding in San Francisco. “Here is a team that hasn’t changed uniforms since its inception and has played in the same stadium since 1957.”

“People are yearning for simpler times,” said NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy. “The current team reflects that.”

And so do merchandise sales. Sales of shirts, caps and other Packer items are closing in on those of the top-selling Dallas Cowboys, a team fans perceive as “flashy and superficial,” Dorfman said. According to Pro Player, the Cowboys account for 25% to 30% of licensed NFL apparel sales, while the Packers make up between 17% and 20%. (The Packers ranked 20th of 28 teams after the losing 1991 season.)

Of course, an important reason Packers items sell well is that the team is winning. But on top of that, Dorfman said, “there is a feeling that they are the new America’s team,” a mantle worn in recent years by the Cowboys.

Dorfman said fans are turned off by transgressions of players such as Michael Irvin, who pleaded no contest to a felony cocaine charge. Though Packers quarterback Brett Favre was treated for addiction to painkillers after the 1995 season, “he handled it honestly and well,” Dorfman said. “He didn’t try to conceal it or deny it.”

Apparel makers said that Dallas won’t be unseated this season. “If Green Bay came back next year and won, they might be able to overtake them,” said White of Logo Athletic.