The problem with printing t-shirts for the Super Bowl or any other championship game is that you can't predict the winner! For licensed manufacturers to have promotional t-shirts ready for Superbowl Sunday, they need to print a run featuring both teams as "winners" just in case. Obviously, this year with the Philadelphia Eagles winning their first Super Bowl, there's going to be a lot of New England Patriot championship t-shirts left over and in need of a home.
The good news is that there are organisations such as Good360 and other international charities dedicated to scooping up all these logo-emblazoned shirts and giving them to people overseas in dire need of clothing. Rather than having all manner of t-shirts, hoodies, jumpers, and hats go to waste simply because of the design printed on them, these charities can distribute tens of thousands of items every year to impoverished countries.
In the past, most of these shirts considered unsellable in the US have gone to people devastated by natural disasters (such as post-quake Haiti). So while it's unfortunate that only half the t-shirts produced for these big sporting events tend to get sold because of the print, we can take heart in the fact that no shirt will go to waste and perhaps somewhere in the world, someone will be wearing a shirt emblazoned with a 2018 Patriot win.
First spotted here: http://mentalfloss.com/article/29884/what-happens-losing-teams-championship-shirts
