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High School Football Team Merchandise: Running a Program Apparel Shop

April 9, 2026 6 min read By Marcus Okonkwo
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Table of Contents
  1. Why Football Programs Are Moving to Online Merch Shops
  2. What to Sell in a Football Program Merchandise Shop
  3. Revenue Math: Football Program Merchandise
  4. How to Launch a Football Merchandise Shop
  5. Managing the Shop Through the Season
  6. Frequently Asked Questions

High school football programs that run a Bear Grips Pro Shop earn $800-$3,000 or more per season in apparel revenue without a single bake sale, car wash, or catalog fundraiser. The shop handles orders, printing, and shipping for every custom tee, hoodie, and hat your community buys. The booster club or athletic department keeps the margin. Zero inventory required, zero upfront cost, and zero fulfillment work once the shop is live.

Why High School Football Programs Are Moving to Online Merchandise Shops

Traditional football program merchandise involved buying a bulk order from a screen printer, storing boxes of shirts in someone's garage, selling at games, and chasing families who wanted to buy outside of game nights. Every item that did not sell was a loss.

Bear Grips Pro Shops eliminates every part of that friction:

The result is that programs earn more money with less effort. A booster parent who used to run the merch table at every game can instead share a link once at the start of the season and let the shop generate revenue automatically.

What to Sell in a High School Football Merchandise Shop

A well-stocked football program shop covers the main apparel demand throughout the season:

The VIP plan supports 200 live products, which comfortably handles all of these categories simultaneously in one shop.

Bear Grips Pro Shops: Custom Apparel for Your Team. No Minimums. Free Shipping.

Revenue Math: What a Football Program Merchandise Shop Earns

Here is what the numbers look like for a mid-size high school football program:

ProductBuyers Est.MarginRevenue
Spirit tees (families)80$10$800
Parent shirts (personalized)50$12$600
Hoodies60$15$900
Playoff shirts (2 rounds)100$12$1,200
Hats30$10$300

Total: $3,800 in a playoff season. In a regular season with no playoff run, the tees, parent shirts, and hoodies alone generate $2,300. These numbers assume a community of 300-400 people with realistic purchase rates. Programs with larger communities or more active booster clubs see higher totals.

For the affiliated program to also earn commissions when referring other schools to Bear Grips, see our affiliate program. Every school program that signs up through your link earns you 10% of their monthly subscription indefinitely.

How to Launch Your High School Football Merchandise Shop

Setting up a Bear Grips Pro Shop for a high school football program takes about 30 minutes on the free plan:

  1. Go to shops.beargrips.com/signup and create your account.
  2. Name your shop after the program (e.g., 'Lincoln High Eagles Football').
  3. Add your first 3 products on the free plan (or unlimited with VIP). Start with a spirit tee, a parent shirt, and a hoodie.
  4. Upload your school logo or mascot artwork to each product. Set school-appropriate colors.
  5. Set retail prices. The default recommendation is $10 per item in margin, but you control this.
  6. Copy the shop URL and share it everywhere: team app, parent group chat, school newsletter, Instagram bio.

The DFY VIP plan ($109/mo) does steps 2-5 for you. Send your logo and school colors, and the Bear Grips team builds a complete shop with professional mockups across all color variants within 30 days. Ideal for an athletic director or booster president who does not have time to manage the setup.

Running Your Football Merchandise Shop Through the Season

Once the shop is live, the management work is minimal:

Announce before opening day. 3-4 weeks before the first game, push the shop link through all available channels. This gives enough time for orders to arrive before opening night.

Refresh for key moments. Add new products or update designs for rivalry week, playoffs, and the banquet. Each new product announcement is an organic re-engagement moment with your community.

Keep the shop open year-round. Off-season orders happen. Alumni who saw the program on social media, families of incoming freshmen, and community members who missed the in-season announcement all buy during the off-season. A shop that stays open earns passive revenue with zero extra work.

Track which products sell. The dashboard shows which items generate the most orders. Focus new designs on the proven sellers. Parent shirts and hoodies typically outperform plain spirit tees in revenue per order even if tees sell more units.

Start Your Football Program's Merchandise Shop

No inventory. No upfront cost. Your community orders and you earn the margin.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How does a high school football program make money from custom merchandise?

Set up a Bear Grips Pro Shop with your school design. Set a retail price above the base cost. When fans, parents, and players buy through your shop link, you keep the margin on every order. No upfront investment, no inventory, no fulfillment work.

How much can a high school football program earn from apparel?

A program with 300-400 community members realistically earns $2,000-$4,000 per season from a well-promoted shop. A playoff run can push that higher. Programs with larger or more engaged communities earn more.

Does a school need a booster club to run a merchandise shop?

No. Any coach, athletic director, parent, or student organization member can set up a Bear Grips shop. The shop can be associated with a booster club bank account or any payment arrangement the program chooses.

What is the difference between the free plan and VIP for a football program?

The free plan supports 3 live products and has a slightly higher base price per item. VIP ($59/mo) supports 200 products at lower base prices, saving $4-11 per item sold. DFY VIP ($109/mo) includes full shop setup and monthly design service. Most programs recoup the VIP cost in the first 20 orders.

Marcus Okonkwo
Marcus OkonkwoFootball and Track Coach

Marcus coaches high school football and track in the Midwest. He has been on the sideline for 18 years and writes about program identity, parent booster fundraising, and the apparel decisions that hold up across an entire season.

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