Rivals unite:
Sports franchises team up to make face masks
In a rare uniting of all of Northern California’s major sports franchises, the teams are coming together with NBC Sports and Timbuk2 to produce 50,000 masks and bandannas during the coronavirus pandemic.
Timbuk2 is reopening its Mission District bagmanufacturing facility to transform 10,000 Tshirts from the teams into face coverings that will be donated to community groups in hopes of reserving more N95 respirators for medical workers and bringing awareness to the CDC’s recommendations about masks for the public. The cotton face masks are not intended for use in clinical settings.
“We are so impressed by the numerous people, organizations and companies in the Bay Area that are finding a variety of ways to help everyone get through these difficult times. Their acts have been generous, and frankly, courageous. We want to contribute, too,” said Matt Murphy, the senior vice president and general manager of NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports California. “There are many brave people who are subjecting themselves to the risk of being infected to fight this pandemic. They deserve to have the appropriate resources to do their jobs, without compromising their own health, safety and that of their families and others.”
The idea of pivoting to create facial coverings during the pandemic isn’t unique, but the groups combining forces on this project and the intimate details of how the initiative came to light are indeed distinct.
Sportswear titan Fanatics halted production of Major League Baseball uniforms last month and repurposed its 360,000squarefoot plant in Pennsylvania to begin making masks and gowns for frontline workers and sent a wave of businesses down similar paths.
Among companies with strong
local ties, American Giant, Camelia Skikos, Camp Collection, Creator SF, Etsy SF, Gr.dano, Tailors’ Keep, Taylor Jay, Tea Collection and TMasks have started making personal protective equipment. Possibly none of those had a more personal prompting than the one that brought together the rival A’s and Giants, and Kings and Warriors and joined the 49ers, Earthquakes and Sharks on a single project.
Jennifer dela Cruz has been an intensive care unit nurse at UCSF for more than 20 years. Returning home for seclusion after a long shift last month, she saw one of her husband’s NBC Sports Tshirts and decided to cut and sew the shirt into a mask.
When her husband sent a photo of the “Authentic Giants Fan” mask to his colleagues at NBC Sports, the idea snowballed.
Emily Raimondi, the senior director of marketing and creative services for NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports California, started contacting the teams. She even drove one of NBC Sports’ hightop news vans to pick up Tshirts in San Jose, Santa Clara and Oakland before delivering them to Timbuk2.
“Sports has a unique way of really uniting the community,” Raimondi said. “We’re all living through a new normal right now and finding new ways to unite to protect our community and come together to fight against COVID19.”
As perfect timing goes, Timbuk2 was already working on mask prototypes when Raimondi reached out through the company’s customer service channel. Timbuk2 marketing head Michelle Nadeau got back within hours, and the project started to take shape.
Founded by a bike messenger out of his garage in 1989, Timbuk2 had grown to a dozen retail stores and a nearly 30,000squarefoot factory producing lifetime guaranteed bags. A private company, Timbuk2 does not disclose financial information, but the business shuttered its stores and furloughed its factory workers during the pandemic.
Some are getting back to work now as the company labors with the donated clothing — first learning that the 100% cotton Tshirts should be turned insideout to make breathing easier and allow future additions for filters and secondly figuring out how to repurpose its sewing machines.
“There probably won’t be a big Warriors logo right on your grill,” Nadeau joked. “You won’t be able to tell the face covering was once a sports Tshirt, except for the outside colors, but when we got asked to help, it was a nobrainer.
“We said ‘yes’ before they ever finished the sentence.”
The first round of 50,000 facial coverings will be donated to Bay Area Community Services and other atrisk groups. But this could become an allin business shift for Timbuk2.
As for NBC Sports, seemingly everything is changing without live sports to broadcast. NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports California serve more than 4 million households in Northern California, Nevada, Southern Oregon and Hawaii and deliver more than 600 live game broadcasts per year.
None of the 101 games scheduled to air from March 11 through Friday was played, so the company showed 160 “classic” games and six video game simulations, and upped its digital content.
“We’re a fitting teammate of the sports organizations and NBC Sports,” Nadeau said. “Our products aren’t going anywhere. Our business isn’t going anywhere. We’ll be here when this is all said and done.
“And, we’ll be stronger for it, I believe.”