Hartford Courant January 9th 1997

 An anti-cat sentiment is building at Starter Corp. in New Haven.

Two brawny, bothersome felines -- the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Carolina Panthers -- are clawing at the door. And on Sunday, they could blitz Starter's bottom line.

Starter, the $365 million-a-year manufacturer of licensed sports apparel, makes uniforms for the New England Patriots and the Green Bay Packers.

The Patriots face the Jaguars, who will be dressed in Nike. The Packers battle the Panthers, who will be wearing Reebok.

But if the Patriots beat the Jaguars for the American Football Conference title and the Packers beat the Panthers for the National Conference crown, two sets of Starter uniforms would be going to the Super Bowl in New Orleans on Jan. 26.

"A Starter Super Bowl," company spokeswoman Robin Wexler says dreamily.

That would be a title match made in marketing heaven.

For the first time in Starter's corporate memory, its logo could be on every jersey on the Super Bowl field. That would translate into untold media exposure dollars, leading to sales of team jerseys and caps to championship-hungry fans.

By one media company's accounting, a Pats-Packers match would give Starter free TV exposure worth as much as $72 million.

So it won't just be eager television advertisers who prefer the demographics of this matchup to that of two lesser known expansion teams.

Put New England and Green Bay together, and for Starter, it spells New Greenbacks.

How does one quantify this kind of exposure? Well, a 30-second advertising spot in the Super Bowl sells for $1.2 million, and the game is viewed by an estimated 140 million people in the U.S. and 800 million worldwide. In addition to that, many newspapers in America will run a photo on its front page. Then there's the automatic Sports Illustrated cover.

"It's invaluable," Wexler says. "We couldn't even begin to put a dollar figure to it."

Joyce Julius & Associates, a sports and special event marketing research firm in Ann Arbor, Mich., monitor and tabulate such exposure. With both teams wearing Starter, Joyce Julius estimates the logo would enjoy between 25 to 30 minutes of in-focus on-screen time, worth "between $60 and $72 million of comparable exposure value," according to Eric Wright, the marketing company's vice president.

Starter was able to enjoy the benefits of media exposure last year when the Pittsburgh Steelers took the "S" logo to the Super Bowl.

Starter didn't outfit the champion Dallas Cowboys last year, but their endorsee -- Cowboy's star runner Emmitt Smith -- wore a new Starter hat for the repeatedly aired "I'm going to Disney World" commercial.

Called "The Collision," the hat debuted at the Super Bowl, and turned out to be one of the best- selling hats in Starter history. This year, they've got Patriots Willie McGinest and Chris Slade wearing the new cap called The Shock Wave. Packers Robert Brooks and Aaron Taylor and Panther Rocket Ismail will also be wearing the Wave.

In the game, fans look for passing, rushing, blitzing.

At Starter and other apparel makers, the thrill is all about logo sightings. And the fun isn't confined to the playing field. One Starter item that Wexler calls "one of the hottest pieces" is a V-neck wind breaker called "The Game Day Trainer,"which Patriot coach Bill Parcells has been wearing on the sidelines all season. Starter sold out of the jacket which retails for $55, and word from Boston retailers is that you can't find it anywhere.

"NFL fans are very brand-conscious," says Brian McCarthy, manager of corporate communications for the National Football League. "They'll watch a game on Sunday and they'll go to a retailer on Monday and ask for the same exact apparel that the coach was wearing on the sidelines."

"Bill Parcells -- believe it or not -- is a fashion model of NFL merchandise," he says.

Sometimes, Starter gets to make both a team's uniforms and sideline attire as with the Patriots. But in other cases, it does just the uniforms, as with the Packers -- Logo Athletic is providing Packers' sideline attire this year.

And in apparel as in sports, you win some, you lose some.

The NFL is restructuring uniform suppliers next year, and Starter will lose the Packers to Nike. But it will gain the Miami Dolphins and the Baltimore Ravens.

In some cases, it gets the whole enchilada, as it will this Sunday when it makes the AFC champion and the NFC champion shirts, no matter who wins.

Talk about rushing.

Starter has printers set up in Boston, Green Bay, Jacksonville and in North Carolina all ready to roll with shirts immediately following the 12:30 and 4 p.m. games.

"Two will be printing, two won't," Wexler says. "And they'll print through the night so the same shirts will be available at retail the next day."

Starter has taken shirt orders that it calls the "what ifs"from stores such as Bob's Stores, J.C. Penney's and Filene's.

"It's a small window of opportunity when it clinches the {conference} because two weeks later it'll be playing for the Super Bowl," she says. "But there are large amounts of diehard fans."

"They like to go along for the ride," Wexler says, "And one way to celebrate is to buy a shirt."

Should the Patriots and the Packers win Sunday, Starter has an additional reason to celebrate. The Patriots have never won a Super Bowl, so no one has an old Super Bowl jacket to haul out. And since the Packers haven't won the NFL championship since 1968, it could be time to buy a new jacket.

It makes "a huge difference" in sales if the Patriots win the conference title, according to Ellen Ornato, spokeswoman for Meriden- based Bob's Stores.

"People are buying some now, the stuff is definitely moving," she says. "But everybody loves a winner."

It was the same way with the New York Yankees and University of Connecticut merchandise, Ornato says. You win, you sell.

"Typically, just before the game, you see the sales," says Dave Minikowski, sales manager of Sports Authority, Farmington.

If the Patriots win, Minikowski says that's when you see the sudden surge in sales to folks who say: "I'm a Pats fan from way back."

So Sunday's the day . . . when victory will be declared for retailers and manufacturers.

And a lot of people could stand to lose their shirts.