Last mission to repair the Hubble telescope Hubble space telescope discoveries have enriched our understanding of the cosmos. In this special report, you will see facts about the Hubble space telescope, discoveries it has made and what the last mission's goals are.
For their own good Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Curt Zupi is among the elite who have mastered the art of selling "hot market" items at Super Bowl events.
By KRIS HUNDLEY
Published February 4, 2005
[Times photo: Michael Rondou]
Curt Zupi, an NFL-licensed vendor for Super Bowl XXXIX, stands at the entrance of his store about a block from Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville. "Things are going bananas," he said Thursday as he juggled product deliveries, phone calls and customers.
JACKSONVILLE - Curt Zupi has been to 14 Super Bowls and never seen a game.
The Ypsilanti, Mich., native is one of fewer than a dozen vendors with the right to sell NFL-licensed merchandise - everything from beads to blankets to bomber jackets - in Super Bowl host cities. This city along the St. John's River, the smallest market to host a Super Bowl, is his 15th stop. And as momentum builds for Sunday's big game, Zupi, 44, is getting a bit jittery.
"Things are going bananas," he said Thursday morning as he juggles product deliveries, phone calls and customers. "People start flying in today and they really get out on the streets tomorrow."
Zupi has been among the elite of T-shirt hawkers, selling memorabilia with the NFL's stamp of approval, since 1991 when the game was in Tampa. Being a "hot market" vendor for the Super Bowl comes with its share of headaches. Local landlords, blinded with visions of becoming Super Bowl billionaires, often demand outlandish rents. Lots of merchandise can't be printed until after the playoffs, creating a last-minute flood of deliveries. And the NFL has to approve your location and constantly monitors your operation.
"You have to meet certain standards, like having brick-and-mortar buildings because the NFL wants perceived high value," says Zupi, who is operating five stores in Jacksonville. "And all my product has to be made by licensed manufacturers like Reebok and its subcontractors. I can't have any other stuff."
Though Zupi won't talk specifics, the payoff for playing by the NFL's rules can be substantial for a vendor. His company, CZ's Sports Marketing, sets up shop at about a half-dozen athletic events every year, from the Orange and Outback Bowls to the NCAA's Final Four. The Super Bowl is far and away his biggest moneymaker.
"The average sale at a Final Four game is under $100," he says. "At the Super Bowl, it's over $300."
The reason for the bonanza? Among the record crowds of more than 100,000 that Super Bowls attract are free-spending executives out to impress clients and the folks back home. Zupi, who describes his Super Bowl clientele as "80 percent corporate America," says it is not unusual for customers to come in with a long shopping list. "They just hand over their credit card and I ship the stuff to their homes."
But making it big on the Super Bowl is not for the faint of heart. Zupi, who visited Jacksonville in June to stake out potential store sites, said successful operators must pick key locations while keeping rents reasonable.
"You have to be able to identify the traffic flow," says Zupi, who nailed four of five storefronts in downtown Jacksonville and one location in a nearby hotel. "That makes the difference between making it or not making it."
Zupi opened his store by Jacksonville's stadium in October, signing a five-month lease to keep rent within reason. That also allowed him to sell merchandise during many of the Jaguars' home games and during the Florida-Georgia game and the Gator Bowl. He knows, though, that none of that business will compare to the onslaught around the Super Bowl.
"Eighty-five percent of my sales will be from Thursday through Tuesday," he says. "It's a short window, so you have to be good enough to take advantage of it."
Zupi is praying for good weather all weekend so potential customers spend plenty of time on the streets, wandering into his shops. He relies on his veteran staff of about 40 employees - mostly family and friends rather than locals - to handle the rush. And he hopes the unprecedented security measures under way in Jacksonville, including restricting the streets around four of his shops to pedestrians, won't spell disaster for sales or keep him from getting postgame shirts and hats into his stores.
"We'll bring them in by hand carts if we have to," Zupi says of the championship goods printed as soon as the game is over.
As a connoisseur of Super Bowl cities, Zupi gives Jacksonville mixed reviews. "The infrastructure is not as good as we had hoped," he says, noting that even FedEx was forced to rent trucks to make deliveries. "And there's really not a lot of places to go above and beyond the game."
By comparison, Zupi said last year's game in Houston was outstanding in sales and local response. "We had people coming into the store, thanking us for coming to town," he said of Super Bowl XXXVIII.
Zupi, who has worked two Super Bowls in Tampa, said the city is always strong for sales, especially when there is a close game, like the New York Giants' 20-19 win over the Buffalo Bills in 1991.
Zupi is getting nervous about the 2006 game, slated for Detroit. Even though it's in his home state, he says his experience with a cold-weather Super Bowl - in Minneapolis in 1992 - was a disaster. Attendees at that event, he says, tended to be second-string executives who spent less money. And a number of fans simply flew in for the game, not even spending the night.
"That was hurtful," he says of Super Bowl XXVI. "It was the worst we ever had."
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Email editor
