sportstyle

46 • January 2021 sportstyle • sportstylemag.com TEAM / FOOTBALL W ith all of this happening, America's team dealers were caught in the middle of shipping product over the summer to prepare for the upcoming season, helping schools adhere to the strict safety guidelines put in place and reacting to near-constant changes in schedules. Dealers had front-row seats and for many the return of tackle football this past fall – and the sales that accompanied it – was a savior in an already difficult year. Few would even think about considering what would have happened to their businesses if their number-one sport didn't return in at least some form. In Florida, there's an old saying that there are two major sports played in the Sunshine State — football and spring football. Well, with spring football cancelled and the sport limping along in the fall, dealers in the state admittedly spent some sleepless nights wondering just how much business there would be in 2020. (In Florida, the majority of private high school schools had a slight delay to the season, public schools in most parts of Florida modified their schedules, and the public schools in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties didn't start their reduced seven-game reduced schedules until late October. The staggered start to the Florida football season, which was magnified by the cancellation of spring football, certainly added to the confusion.) "Not having spring football was a kicker, as it always helps our annual football sales," says Kevin Licata, manager of Medallion's Sporting Goods in Jupiter, FL. "Our overall football sales have been down 50-60 percent." Clearly, the Fall 2020 selling season for Medallion's wasn't conducted under normal circumstances. One of its regular local football clients is the youth football program affiliated with the Jupiter-Tequesta Athletic Association (JTAA), whose season could best be described as start-stop-start-stop. "The JTAA started its season, then stopped, then started again and then cut its schedule, which gave every team just a few games," says Licata. In the greater Vero Beach, FL, area, high school football started late because the return to class was delayed. According to Becky Whipp, co-owner of Dave's Sporting Goods in Vero Beach, once games were played there was still the challenge of catering to fans, usually a lucrative add-on business. As was the case around the U.S., each game only had a limited number of people allowed in the stands. And while high school football moved forward, youth football leagues in that area of east-central Florida cancelled their seasons this past fall. "Sadly, our youth football sales totally went away," says Whipp. "Those leagues hope to return next fall." On a slightly more positive note, a number of high schools in the Vero Beach area that conduct powder puff football games for high school girls actually staged their games this fall. "The powder puff games feature junior girls against senior girls within each school," explains Whipp. "And the boy football players coach the games. Those games are held in conjunction with homecoming and they played those games." TEAM DEALERS HUDDLE UP In Florida, there's an old saying that there are two major sports played in the Sunshine State - football and spring football.

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