What Happens To Championship T-Shirts From LOSING Teams?

So, you're team lost the NFL Title game, or the NBA Finals. You saw the winning players busting out in the champ hats and t's minutes after the game. But what about the losers?

Well. obviously major and even collegiate teams have shirts made up in advance in case of either team winning. But what happens to the t-shirts, for example, from the 2007 Super Bowl, when the Colts beat the Bears? 15,000 shirts were immediately available for distribution to the players and others on the field, and for advance online or phone orders after the game. But Manning and Co. won the game 29-17.

According to the website mentalfloss.com,  there's a place for them, but it's far across the globe. For decades, they used to go up in flames, literally. Major sports merchandisers would throw boxes of thousands of shirts into an incinerator, turned to ashes. But then a few decades ago, a better idea came up, according to mentalfloss:

"That’s a lot of misprinted shirts that can’t hit store shelves, and seem like fine candidates for the incinerator, instead. And for a long time, that’s where they went, with all four major American pro sports leagues — MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL — requiring the destruction of incorrect post-season apparel.

Fortunately, the leagues have changed the way they do things and now all four - plus manufacturers and retailers like Reebok, Sports Authority, Dick’s and Modell’s — instead give the gear to a group called World Vision, which saves the merch from certain doom and puts it to use."

Some folks already know this. But there's quite a few who don't, hence the 'lack' of jokes about kids in Third-World countries running around in a Buffalo Bills Super Bowl victory shirt. Same goes for hats, sweatshirts, and other clothing apparel. World Vision is a non-profit agency that for decades has provided various services and assistance to needy people around the globe.

But because of the useful nature of this program, and it helps people in poverty, a lot of folks tastefully avoid making a lot of fun at the losing team's expense when it come to merchandising.

Yes, championship t-shirts for the losing team are a testament to failure, but their end result is worth saluting. Better to have clothes and a shirt on your back, than to have to go without-especially if you live in a Third World or impoverished nation and are not sure how you can afford food, let alone clothes.