Pittsburgh Post - Gazette January 10th 1998

 Kordell Stewart is the NFL's hottest property.

Stewart's jerseys are the top-selling piece of player merchandise in the National Football League this season, slashing John Elway's No. 7 to blue ribbons.

"Kordell is number one nationally, but (Jerome) Bettis is right on his tail," said NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy.

Elway, the Denver Broncos quarterback who faces the Steelers on Sunday in the AFC championship game, is a 15-year star who's "up there" in sales. But Stewart has created a bigger off-field sensation, McCarthy said.

Stewart, the 25-year-old quarterback, and Bettis, the 265-pound halfback, were primary reasons that the Steelers ranked fourth overall in NFL merchandise sales through October, the latest figures available.

Green Bay, the defending Super Bowl champion, was No. 1 in sales.

"Success on the field translates to success off the field in retail," McCarthy said. "Fans like to associate with winners."

The Dallas Cowboys, with three Super Bowl championships in the '90s, ranked second in sales of jackets, jerseys, caps, clocks, coffee mugs and the vast array of other paraphernalia sold by the NFL's marketing machine.

San Francisco, a five-time Super Bowl champion since 1982, was third. Then came Pittsburgh.

The Broncos, who broke out new uniforms this year, ranked ninth.

Early in the season, the Broncos were criticized by various columnists for ditching their traditional orange jerseys for a shade of deep blue laced with an erratic stripe.

"Strangely enough, now that the team is in the AFC championship game, we haven't heard any grumbling about it," McCarthy said.

Among individual players, Stewart is a marketing sensation far beyond the bridges and tunnels of Pittsburgh.

Stan Tukes, manager of the Gallery Foot Locker store in Philadelphia, said Stewart rates as his top seller.

"We had about 40 of his jerseys, and we're sold out," Tukes said this week. "I'd say he's our best."

An assistant manager of Champs Sports in Lake Forest Plaza in New Orleans said Stewart is a winner for her, too. "Our top sellers fluctuate, but Kordell is one of them," she said.

Robin Wexler, a spokeswoman for Starter Corp. in New Haven, Conn., said Stewart and the Steelers are outselling everybody as the conference championships approach.

Retail orders for Starter championship game T-shirts already are higher than they were two years ago, after the Steelers had qualified for the Super Bowl, Wexler said.

Steelers' orders, she said, exceed those of Denver fans and of followers of the NFC championship finalists, Green Bay and San Francisco.

The NFL traces much of its merchandising success to Joe Walton, former coach of the New York Jets.

Walton, at the urging of an equipment manager, wore a loud green sweater during a Monday night game against the Miami Dolphins on Nov. 24, 1986.

"Looking back, it wasn't the prettiest thing in the world," McCarthy said.

But by the next morning, 400 Jets' fans had called in to ask how they could buy a sweater like Walton's.

"It was amazing," said Walton, now the football coach at Robert Morris College in Moon.

He started a trend in which coaches and players became fashion models.

In the staid NFL, many coaches had favored coats and ties on the sidelines. Legends such as Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry dressed for games the way they dressed for church.

Walton and his bold team sweater changed all that, creating demand for authentic team apparel.

Today, 29 of the 30 NFL coaches wear team hats, shirts, sweaters and parkas on game day.

The only holdout is Dan Reeves of the Atlanta Falcons. Reeves prefers a coat and tie, saying that formal dress better helps him control his hair-trigger temper.

His coaching rivals, all shown on television many times during each game, are walking advertisements for NFL gear.

So are high-profile players such as Stewart and Elway. They often take off their helmets on the sideline and face the television cameras in NFL-licensed caps.

"People see the authentic merchandise that coaches and players wear on game day, and they want it for themselves," McCarthy said.

Any merchandise sale is money in the bank for all 30 NFL team owners.

Losing teams, such as the Indianapolis Colts and Arizona Cardinals, receive just as much money from licensed merchandise sales as do the Steelers and Packers.

The NFL evenly divides the millions for a simple reason: This year's champs could be next year's chumps.

So, when the Steelers slump and the Seattle Seahawks soar, neither team will suffer a loss or prosper at the other's expense.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones challenged the system of revenue sharing two years ago. He sued for a bigger share of the money, most of which was being generated by his Cowboys.

McCarthy said Jones has since backed off, bowing to the idea that there's wisdom in evenly dividing the money spent by fanatics.

"The licensing business, like on-field performance, tends to be cyclical," McCarthy said.

But in what could be a championship season for the Steelers, Kordell Stewart is leading the way. Everybody loves a winner The Steelers sell NFL merchandise every year, but business is best during of after a championship season.
SALES TEAM
YEAR RANKING RECORD  RESULTS
1979 2nd      12-4 Won Super Bowl
1980 1st      9-7
19812nd       8-8
1982 2nd      6-3
1983 3rd      10-6
1984 6th      9-7 Lost in AFC championship game 1985 9th 7-9
1986 13th     6-10
1987 14th     8-7
1988 16th     5-11
1989 17th      9-7
1990 13th      9-7
1991 10th      7-9
1992 13th      11-5
1993 12th        9-7
1994 10th        12-4       Lost in AFC championship game
1995 3rd         11-5 Lost in Super Bowl
1996 4th         10-6
1997 4th         11-5 Playing in AFC championship game

NFL teams with most merchandise sales this season
1. Green Bay Super Bowl champs are the color of money
2. Dallas Cowboy held top spot during much of 90s
3. San Francisco Five Super Bowl titles created gold rush
4. Pittsburgh Steelers are back in hunt for a championship
5. Miami Coach Jimmy Johnson created great expectations
6. Philadelphia Eagles likely to tail off after poor season
7. Carolina Young Panthers could have been a contender, but weren't
8. Kansas City Fans were buying before playoffs collapse
9. Denver Bad uniforms, but winning ugly still sells
10. Oakland Likely to be pushed off list by upstart Tampa Bay