Team sports are integral to the American lifestyle. From preschool soccer to senior Olympics, organized sports participation is healthy for the individual and good for society as a whole. And with all that athletic activity comes a great deal of equipment, particularly in football.
A few football numbers:
- The Wilson Football Factory makes 700,000 footballs per year.
- One and a half million football helmets are sold every year.
- Many college football teams redesign their uniforms each year, and have alternate uniforms each season – old style and new.
Add to that all the pads, cleats, braces, chin straps, face masks, and shoes, and you begin to see a big storage challenge for sports equipment managers. The gear is bulky and rigid; folding it away into a compact space is not an option. One fully-equipped football uniform is estimated to take up over 4 cubic feet, and with 53 players on each NFL team (plus 10 additional practice squad members), all that gear takes up quite a bit of space.
And the equipment is pricey too. Football equipment tops the list of sports equipment sales, hovering in the $500 million range. A single NFL helmet costs $1000. With such a large investment in assets, team equipment managers are tasked with carefully tracking the equipment inventory. And they have to manage much more than helmets and pads – even gloves and mouth guards have to be accounted for.
The numbers show the magnitude of the sports equipment management challenge, in terms of both space and inventory. Storage professionals have stepped up with their own numbers: 50% less floor space with high-density shelving systems, and 100% inventory accuracy with active-RFID systems. High-density mobile shelving accommodates the odd shapes and bulk of football equipment in a highly efficient space-utilization system. RFID tags track every element of each player’s uniform to avoid loss or misplacement. In combination, mobile shelving and RFID inventories keep real estate and equipment costs manageable, not just for the NFL, but for any organization that has physical assets to manage and store.
Yes, we’re passionate about sports in the U.S. And every athletic team is supported by unsung heroes, including the sports equipment managers who keep their teams well dressed and protected. Storage pros are proud to be part of that support system, providing the technology that allows teams to focus on being their best.
Photo © master1305 / Fotolia.com
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