They say that in sports, winning cures all. After 52 years without a championship, the city of Cleveland can attest to that. Their Cavaliers won the 2016 NBA title Sunday night, beating last year’s champion Golden State Warriors in seven games after being down 3-1 in the series.
It was a re-match of the 2015 Finals which Cleveland was ready for. Cleveland vs Golden State again. LeBron vs Steph again.
All of that was laid to rest when the Cavs won. LeBron was vindicated, redeemed. The city of Cleveland’s curse was lifted. And for Cleveland fans, the feeling they’ve waited for. And they responded.
It seems waiting 52 years means you savor the moment when it finally comes – in the first 24 hours following the end of Game 7, across all Fanatics platforms, NBA Store.com and the flagship NBA Store in NYC, Cavaliers championship merchandise purchases were up 100% over the Warriors’ merchandise sales in the same period in 2015, which was also a record at the time.
As of the time of this publishing, less than 48 hours after the clock hit zeroes, Cavs fans have already purchased more championship merchandise than Warriors fans did in the first full week following their 2015 victory.
During the same time period following the win, Cavs fans bought more championship merch just on their mobile phones than Warriors fans did across all platforms the year prior. In fact, mobile purchases set a new Fanatics championship record, surging past the College Football Playoff Championship game earlier this year.
Check out our heat map below to get a visual on the explosion of Cavs purchases as Game 7 finished. Cleveland fans can sum it up well: the curse is over, and right now that’s all matters.
