Mere hours after the Los Angeles Rams rallied to oust the San Francisco 49ers 20-17 and earn their way to Super Bowl LVI on Feb. 13, fans flocked to stores Sunday evening and Monday morning to swipe up NFC Champion hats, shirt, pendants and other memorabilia.
As the game ended at SoFi Stadium on Sunday evening, a limited supply of “NFC Champions” gear was sold to celebrative fans. And fans also rolled into retail shops seeking their wearable/collectible piece of Southern California NFL history.
Dick’s Sporting Goods’ El Segundo location staying open late Sunday night and opened promptly at 7 a.m. Monday to accommodate jubilant Rams fans.
The first thing to sell out at Dick’s were locker room hats, according to senior marketing manager Deanna Holland, which the players donned on the field while celebrating their victory after the championship game. She said the locker room hats will be back in the store at an undetermined time.
“We have a lot of options, there’s a lot to select from,” said Holland on Monday, including car flags, mugs and tumblers.
Amy Howorth was in line Monday at Dick’s in El Segundo to buy several Rams T-Shirts. Originally from Ohio, Howorth said she is not a fan of the Cincinnati Bengals, who will be playing the Rams on Super Bowl Sunday, but roots for the Cleveland Browns.
“I’m a Rams fan, but my husband (Mark) is really the fan,” said Howorth, a former Manhattan Beach City Council member. “He grew up in L.A., so had to endure the years when there were no teams here. He has to be out of the country for work, so he had to miss these games. So I wanted to get him a shirt for when he comes home.”
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Debbie Perry’s Instagram page — Riley & Bode the Yorkies, featuring to adorable pooches in cute costumes in decorative settings — has amassed nearly 31,000 followers since it was started six years ago. So, naturally, they needed to get into the Super Bowl spirit.
At Dick’s on Monday, Perry purchased a few items to show her support for Los Angeles-based teams. It’s not the first time the pooches have woofed it up for the Rams or some other L.A. franchise. Three years ago, before the Rams faced the New England Patriots in Atlanta’s Super Bowl LIII, Randy’s Donuts near LAX changed its name to “LA Rams Donuts” and decorated its trademark mammoth pastry in team colors.
“I took Riley and posed him in front of the doughnut, so we always do fun things for the Dodgers, Kobe or anything related to Los Angeles,” Perry said.
On Monday morning, Pam and Erinn Bailey heard on a local news channel that Dick’s was selling official Rams merch, so they darted over faster than Cooper Kupp can bolt down the field.
“OK, we got to get a couple of t-shirts,” Pam said, “to show our pride.”