When Russell Wilson turned up in Broncos orange, Derek Friedman pinched himself. Then he kicked himself into high gear.
“It was ‘What the (expletive?), then it was elation,” Friedman, owner of the Sportsfan chain of retail stores in greater Denver, recalled with a laugh.
“And then, ‘Oh my (gosh), we have sooooo much work to do.’ This is a massive, massive thing for a business like this.”
Friedman is in the business of selling jerseys. And nobody is expected to move more jerseys, or sports merchandise, throughout sports-mad Denver the way Wilson will if the past two weeks are any indicator of what’s to come.
Welcome, Front Range fans, to the first stages of The Russell Wilson Effect.
Jersey sales go up. The ticket market tightens. And a town doesn’t just talk about Super Bowls — a town believes in honestly, genuinely, reaching those Super Bowls again.
Wilson’s No. 3 Broncos jersey has been the No. 1-seller among NFL players since the quarterback’s trade from Seattle to Denver was made official March 16, a spokesperson from Fanatics.com told The Post.
DangerRuss, a nine-time Pro Bowler, is the tide that lifts all Broncos-related economic boats, eliciting the kind of Orange and Blue buzz that hasn’t filtered through the community since former Denver quarterback Peyton Manning played here. At Friedman’s stores, for example, that meant doubling orders of not just Wilson-related merchandise, but all Broncos-related inventory.
“Now you’re going to have absolutely filled stadiums, overflow crowds,” Friedman said of RussMania. “People are going to start watching the Broncos again on local TV. We’re going to go to Broncos watch parties, and we’re going to wear stuff for Broncos watch parties. All ships rise (in this tide).
“That means our kids section, itap probably got to be quadrupled. Our women’s section, we’ll be three times as big (as 2021). Hoodies. Tees. Jewelry. We got out of the Broncos shoe business. And (last week) I was buying knee-high women’s boots with the Broncos logo on them.”
“It’s going to be tremendous”
What a difference a year makes. Especially when it comes to quarterbacks and a town that can’t stop talking about them.
In the spring of 2021, apountry was a nation bitterly divided. The team had acquired veteran quarterback Teddy Bridgewater just before the NFL Draft last April to compete with young incumbent Drew Lock for the starting job.
The rest of the calendar year saw one of the best fan bases in sports split into two camps: Team Teddy and Team Drew. Social media, as it does with politics and culture, only amplified the polarization.
No more. In one of the intangibles that come with The Russell Wilson Effect, both sides are now united behind one QB and under one flag: Team Russ. Letap Ride.
“With how (Wilson) has performed on the field and how he’s represented himself off the field,” noted Russ Spielman, a sports marketer and senior executive vice president with GSE Worldwide, “itap going to be tremendous.”
It’ll be tremendous for the Broncos, too. Especially when it comes to the bottom line.
Already the hottest sports ticket in town, a seat at Empower Field at Mile High is likely to become one of the most coveted in any NFL market this fall. Online ticket retailer Vivid Seats told The Post that from March 1 through March 24, traffic on the site’s spiked 465% compared to the same period in March 2021 — and thatap happening weeks before the finalized league schedule has been released.
“If there are any corporate opportunities, as well, I think those would go up,” Spielman said. “And I think the sponsors are going to want to attach themselves to another Super Bowl run. I would expect that Russell has such a good marketing (portfolio) that some of his own corporate partners might follow.”
In a study of 1,000 fans conducted in 2021 by , a consulting firm that has partnered with almost a dozen NFL teams, among 73 players who endorsed apparel, earphones and beer, Wilson scored the second-highest among all endorsers as far as the audience correctly identifying the brand he supports.
“I don’t think (the Broncos) had problems with ticket sales,” said Kirk Wakefield, chief research officer with Wakefield Research Partners and a professor at Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business. “But (this) should enable them to sell plenty….And I would say most fans would gladly pay it.”
And, expect the Sundays with 10,000-15,000 no-show fans to end.
“Winning adds more passionate fans”
To that end, Wakefield also cited a recent study that found 70% of Broncos fans are what he defines as “highly passionate” — a status which has them among the top 20% of all North American pro teams and on par, among NFL peers, with the Cowboys, Packers and Chiefs.
“And thatap even with suffering through five straight losing years,” Wakefield added. “Winning adds more passionate fans. Which translates into better attendance, TV ratings and sponsorship dollars.”
Friedman doesn’t need a consultant to figure that last part out. He’s seen The Russell Wilson Effect firsthand already, with his own two eyes. Itap Manning all over again.
“When Manning came in (in 2012), it obviously had a pretty big impact on jersey sales and shirt sales — there was a lot of stuff going out with Manning’s name on it,” the retailer recalled. “And it was not (just) Denverites and locals. It was people traveling from all over the country, and even outside the country, especially in Latin America and Europe.
“Because Broncos fans are there, too, but they’re a little bit more casual and they’re not going to spend the money to travel when the team is having losing seasons … and buy all the hotel (rooms) and things that come with a special trip to Denver. We’re expecting a really significant impact in terms of people returning from a bit of a hiatus and hibernation.”
