What happens to the Super Bowl 56 championship gear made for the Cincinnati Bengals?

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As the Cincinnati Bengals walked off the SoFi Stadium field without a Super Bowl victory following their 23-20 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, players and fans missed out on a chance to commemorate a historic season with merchandise celebrating the league title.

If you've ever wondered how the NFL has Super Bowl champion shirts and hats immediately ready for the winner of the big game, they aren't just coming right off the press. The league makes winning gear for both sides ahead of Super Bowl Sunday, as well as having them in stock for anyone who wants to immediately buy online or go to a retailer first thing on Monday.

But as the Super Bowl-related merchandise of the losing team leaves Los Angeles and thousands of other retailers across the country, it won't end up in dumpsters; instead, it will go to people in need. 

Based in Alexandria, Virginia, the non-profit organization Good360 has worked with the NFL for the past eight years in taking merchandise meant for the losing Super Bowl team and donating it overseas. They've also partnered with Major League Baseball to do the same for the MLB playoffs.

In addition to the Super Bowl merchandise, Good360 also takes the merchandise from the conference championship games, giving them thousands of shirts, hats, sweaters and masks to send off, said the company's chief development officer and chief marketing officer, Shari Rudolph.

The process begins well before we find out who will be playing in the Super Bowl. The NFL and Good360 work together to come up with a list of countries where things could be sent, mostly in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and South America. After a list is approved, Good360 then reaches out to its non-profit partners in those countries to see which places are most in need.

Once the Super Bowl is over, the NFL then gives retailers instructions on what to do with the losing team's apparel. All of the stuff then gets sent to one location in the United States

"These goods have to leave the United States," Rudolph told Paste BN. "The NFL and the teams themselves don't want to have it here in the country and finding their way back into consumers' hands, probably for all the obvious reasons." 

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Liana Bailey, NFL communications manager, previously told Paste BN in February 2021 there haven't been any reported instances of people trying to get their hands on the merchandise.

Rudolph said she has seen jokes about it on social media, but whether it actually is a joke, she wants people to realize this is to help people and not for them to "become collector's items." The "high quality" material is rvirtually inaccessible to get, so getting a heavy sweatshirt or protective mask may help someone during cold months for years, or a shirt to wear on a day-to-day basis.

"Certain people are always interested in kind of having that piece of history. It's a piece of history, but kind of the flip side of the real story," she said. "There's no chance of getting it."

Maintaining the entire operation's secrecy is critical, as it can take a few weeks, possibly months, to get everything to one spot and send it out. Good360 waits to ship until containers can be completely filled.

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Like many overseas shipping, Rudolph said Good360 is one of many companies that has dealt with supply chain issues, such as container ships being forced to wait long periods to dock. These transportation restrains could mean the supplies might not get to their destinations until the summer or possibly early fall. Rudolph added the cost of shipping has also drastically risen, leaving the company to fundraise to offset those higher costs. 

But regardless of complications, the merchandise will get to its destination. 

So if you're a Bengals fan still grappling with the loss, at least there is one good coming out of defeat.

"It might be a silver lining that's hard to see in the immediate disappointment of not winning that very important game. You maybe didn't bring home that division championship or the overall championship, but you can know that those items will go to where they can do the most good, and they will not end up in a landfill," Rudolph said. "There's always next year."

Follow Jordan Mendoza on Twitter: @jordan_mendoza5.