An interesting NY Times article, called “Far Away, Super Bowl’s Losers Will Be Champs,” reveals what happens to the merchandise of the Super Bowl losers.

The Super Bowl will end about 10 p.m. Sunday, and by 10:01 every player on the winning team — along with coaches, executives, family members and ball boys — could be outfitted in colorful T-shirts and caps proclaiming them champions.

The other set of championship gear — the 288 T-shirts and caps made for the team that did not win — will be hidden behind a locked door at Dolphin Stadium. By order of the National Football League, those items are never to appear on television or on eBay. They are never even to be seen on American soil.

Where does it go? The merchandise is shipped by Monday morning to Sewickley, Pa where they become property of World Vision, a relief organization that repackages and distributes the clothing to developing countries such as Niger, Uganda and Sierra Leone. Somewhere out there lies some very, very rare sports memorabilia…

For the past 20 years, the shirts and caps have become as much a part of championship games as the coaches’ Gatorade showers. At the end of the World Series, the N.B.A. finals and the Final Four, all the winners get to celebrate in fresh threads.

The losers, meanwhile, trudge back to their locker room in sweaty jerseys. Major League Baseball destroys the clothing that was made for its runners-up. The N.B.A. donates it to an overseas charity. And the N.F.L. sends it to a place far away.

It’s good to know that the NFL and NBA have good hearts, MLB we hope you’re paying attention.

(from NY Times)