As the LSU men’s basketball team prepares to tip off tonight with North Carolina State in the Tigers’ first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2009, local merchants of LSU clothing and merchandise say the excitement has translated into some extra sales in what is otherwise a slower time of the year.
But it’s not just the men’s basketball team that’s providing an uptick in sales. The Lady Tigers basketball team is also in the NCAA Tournament this year, and both the baseball team and softball team have attained No. 1 rankings in the country. And then there’s the gymnastics team, which is vying for its third straight Super Six berth and an opportunity to win the national championship.
“All together, it has made for a much better spring for us than normal,” says Pat Randazza, owner of the two Purple and Gold Sports Shop locations on Airline Highway. “When LSU does good, the Baton Rouge economy does good, at least for retailers and restaurants. Usually it would just be baseball for us right now. But just the fact that we have so many teams right now at the top, that brings that LSU fever back at a time of the year when it normally wouldn’t be there.”
That being said, Randazza notes that LSU football remains the king of merchandise sales at her shops.
“Nothing brings in dollars like football,” she says. “All of that combined together still doesn’t bring in anywhere near what football does. But it has been a good boost for us.”
Eric Hedrick, owner of the Bengals & Bandits shop just outside the LSU North Gates, says he began seeing an uptick in sales on Sunday, when it was announced the men’s basketball team had made The Big Dance. But he speculates the return of spring weather over the weekend had as much to do with the increase in sales as the basketball announcement.
“January and February are not only cold months for weather, they’re also really cold for retail. And with the first 10 days of March or so being rainy, we weren’t doing so hot. But once the sky cleared up on Friday and we had the [St. Patrick’s Day] parade on Saturday it was gangbusters come Sunday,” he says. “The numbers were amazing this past weekend—way, way up. It was just the perfect storm.”
Jared Loftus, owner of online retailer TigerDistrict.com, says the men’s basketball team hasn’t yet provided a big boost in sales for him. And he doesn’t anticipate the team will unless it makes a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
“Merch sales will have an uptick once it looks like we’re going to the Final Four,” Loftus says. “Until then, there just seems to be a real healthy skepticism among the fans. It happened seven or eight years ago when they did reach the Final Four. It was a huge jump. We sold a ton of Final Four merchandise.”
Randazza echoes Loftus, saying she hasn’t seen a huge increase in basketball merchandise or apparel sales because of the NCAA Tournament appearance—at least not yet.
“It takes a while for people to catch that basketball fever,” she says. “But if they can win tonight, it could be the spark.”
—Steve Sanoski
