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The owner of Sports Mania says he tripled his order of jerseys/T-shirt jerseys after the Jaguars traded up to reel in the Heisman winner.
JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — The Travis Hunter hype has made its way out to Jacksonville Beach.
Sports Mania Owner Mathew Smith says the Jaguars first round splash was ideal for him both as a fan, and as a business owner.
Fans came in throughout the day Friday asking about Travis Hunter jerseys, and Smith is hoping to have them by the middle of next week.
“I placed an order on the jerseys and I dropped $30,000 on Travis Hunter in less than 10 minutes,” Smith said. “That was just the beginning of things.”
Smith says there are certain Jaguar jerseys that are timeless and never go out of style.
“MJD,” Smith said. “You see a #32 teal jersey and that’s the first thing that pops into your head.”
He thinks Hunter has the ability to be one of those names, and Sports Mania is taking a gamble on it.
“We originally blocked off an initial order for whoever the Jags picked for 144 units,” Smith said. “We changed that with the hype for Travis Hunter. We bought 288 jerseys, 144 name and number t-shirts.”
Smith admits last season was tough for business and the offseason hasn’t been kind to this point with fan favorites like Evan Engram and Christian Kirk parting ways with the team.
“Phew, man, we took a financial blow this year,” Smith said. “But, having Travis Hunter jerseys in here brings traffic and that traffic will bring residual sales to get rid of the old inventory.”
Sports Mania shoppers had a variety of takes on the Jaguars big swing at Hunter.
“I get the hype. I think it’s going to sell tickets, which is important, but I think he’s a little overrated, personally, said Tucker Barrack. “That’s just my opinion.”
“They’re going to doubt Travis Hunter 1000% this season, but I have a strong feeling they’re going to regret it when we go to the playoffs this season,” said Jaxon Stewart.
Smith is used to spending 10s of thousands of dollars on jerseys for certain players, but says he rarely wears any himself.
“I’ve also never had a player that I was hands down in love with that I needed their name on my back,” said Smith. “I think Travis Hunter might be the guy for me.”
Smith says Nike is only printing black jerseys immediately, so they’ll only have black jerseys, but teal t-shirt jerseys on the first shipment coming in next week.
