Super Bowl trophy brings in the crowds to Whitby sports store

The power of the Super Bowl was strong Saturday afternoon at Team Town Sports in Whitby, with crowds of people snaking around the inside of the store to get their picture with the NFL’s iconic championship award.

A thousand strong were on hand Saturday to see the Vince Lombardi Trophy in a rare visit to this side of the border, with the seven-pound, sterling silver trophy the star attraction at Team Town Sports, six months almost to the day from their grand opening in early March.

“The biggest challenge has been logistics,” Fred Lecoq, the Director of Marketing for Team Town Sports parent company Sporting Life Group said of the work put in by staff to handle the influx of football fans for the event. “We wanted to give everybody a chance to get a picture.”

The timing of the trophy’s mini tour through Canada just as the NFL season got underway was also an excellent opportunity to tell the community “who we are and what we do,” Lecoq noted.

“It has to be more than just selling product,” he said. “They’ll always remember events like this.”

Team Town Sports Marketing Director Fred Lecoq

Billing itself as “team sports forward,” Team Town Sports tries to set itself apart from other big box sports retailers by focussing on team sports equipment from lacrosse to baseball, football and hockey (as well as sports popular with new Canadians like cricket and rugby) instead of apparel like much of their competition.

Toronto-based, the company opened their first store in Calgary (there are now two locations) before branching into Ontario to open stores in Mississauga (2023) and Whitby (2024).

Further expansion is on the way, Lecoq added. With requirements including big box size and a stand alone building, it’s a matter of finding the “right real estate,” he said.

Customers got a chance to get up close and personal with the championship trophy, named in honour of legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi, whose teams ruled the 1960s in football and won the first two Super Bowls, at the Team Town Sports location on Victoria Street, just east of Thickson Road.

Designed by Tiffany & Co., the trophy was first awarded to Green Bay on January 15, 1967 and renamed the Vince Lombardi Trophy after the coach’s death in 1970.

Unlike other championship trophies such as the Stanley Cup and Grey Cup, a new Vince Lombardi Trophy is cast every year, and the winning team maintains permanent possession of it (apart from Super Bowl V, which remained in Baltimore after the Colts left for Indianapolis in 1984).

The Vince Lombardi Trophy stands 22 inches tall and depicts a football in a kicking position on a three concave sided stand. The current holders of the trophy are the Kansas City Chiefs, who won their second straight title and third trophy in five years February 11.

Kansas City was also on the losing end of that first championship against Green Bay in 1967.

The Dimarco family of Oshawa got their chance to see the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Photo Glenn Hendry