Picture this scenario.

You're running a company that has a contract with the NCAA to provide merchandise and apparel to every venue at 88 championships, including preliminary rounds. For most of the those events, you have only a few hours to make customized T-shirts, hats, sweatshirts, jackets, lapel pins and novelty items and have them delivered to multiple sites around the country.

That means in any given year, there are about 755 sites to ship to, all with specific needs, so each participating institution, its fans and the student-athletes have the chance to obtain a memento from the championship experience.

It sounds like a daunting task, but for the last seven years, it's a way of life for Event 1. The Lenexa, Kansas-based apparel company, which is a subsidiary of Gear For Sports, somehow pulls off the feat thanks to databases of research that helps project how much merchandise needs to be sent to events ranging from the Men's Final Four in a major city to a Division III championship in rural Indiana.

"The only way you can serve this industry is if you have a company that's the manufacturer and the retailer,'' said Joe Streck, the general manager of Event 1. "That is really what gives us a strategic advantage in that we're vertically integrated."

Event 1 has 75 artists available to design all of the logos, and Gear For Sports stops all production for its other clients when it comes time to mass produce the NCAA materials.

'Event in a box'

Once the designs are in place, facilities in Lenexa; Chillicothe, Missouri; and Bedford, Iowa, churn out the products for championships in the fall, winter and spring.

For example, on November 8 during this year's fall championships season, Event 1 had 73 sites to which to ship product. Most of those 73 sites were unknown until November 7.

While the artists and the production facilities are busy, coordinators are verifying exactly where all the merchandise is going and what person is supposed to receive the shipment.

Along with product, the Event 1 staff sends pricing information and machines so credit card purchases can be made.

"We have a pretty good track record as far as what sells and where," said Tom Ell, Event 1's merchandise manager. "We review previous year's sales and massage the numbers to put a plan together for the upcoming year. I've been here for five years. It is difficult and takes a lot of preparation time. Currently, we're working on winter plans that will happen in March."

Event 1 staffs only about 20 to 25 of the sites throughout the year. Those are their top-selling projects that include the Men's and Women's Final Fours, the Men's and Women's College World Series, the men's lacrosse championships, the Men's Frozen Four, the wrestling championships, the women's volleyball championships and the Division I-AA football title game.

"The fall is probably the most hectic time of the year,'' said Jared Hunt, an event manager for the company. "There are more sites on campuses. The big thing is Division II football. I'll know all the first-round sites but after that weekend I get an e-mail from the NCAA to tell me who will host the second-round sites. I have to call all the second-round sites and re-call the first-round sites if they need to ship their remaining merchandise to the next round site. We've learned to multitask very efficiently."

For all the championships Event 1 can't staff in person, it sends an informational guide to help matters run smoothly for those who are responsible for making sales.

"We have a concept that we developed a long time ago, and we call it 'an event in a box,'" Streck said. "It's a manual that tells you everything and anything you want to know about how to run an event properly. We send an inventory sheet that says which goods you've received. There are accounting forms in there about how to calculate sales tax. There are pictures on how we want the merchandise to be displayed."

More than Final Four

The NCAA appreciates the quality of the products that Event 1 provides and the way they are able to produce all of the merchandise. It is important that no student-athlete feels slighted in the process.

"The philosophy we at the NCAA have is that this is an important part of the championship no matter which championship you're talking about," said Tom Jacobs, NCAA director of championships. "For teams that are participating and fans at each of these sites, it's important that they have the ability to purchase merchandise. I hope the service is the same across the board no matter what championship you're talking about."

Jacobs said the differences come into play, however, when considering the quantity or the types of products that are offered. "Certainly those championships that are better attended probably have a larger variety of items to choose from and larger quantities. Certainly, all events are important and we want to make sure that we're servicing the fans and the teams who are participating and giving them what they need."

That mission isn't lost on Event 1, according to Streck.

While their clientele includes the Big 12 Conference, the Big Ten Conference, the Southeastern Conference, the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Alamo Bowl, it can't compare to the volume of items needed to supply all 88 championships.

"We also understand that the NCAA's needs aren't just at the marquee events," he said. "It's for that student-athlete who is at the first round of a field hockey championship, too. We know that we're going to lose money on those championships. In the long run when we have those major championships, we'll be able to make enough at those to offset the losses we incur at the smaller championships."

One of the things Event 1 is proud of is its re-order capacity and the ability to react should a site need more merchandise than anticipated. It's a good problem to have because it means more sales.

Event 1 is able to output about 50,000 screened prints each day and 20,000 units of embroidery. However, a cautious approach must be taken.

"The biggest cost we have is residual business," Streck said. "If it comes back here, the outlets to get rid of it are few and far between. It's a dated product. Unless people call in, and when we're at the event we do a post-event order business as well, it doesn't do a lot for us. But we are able to limit our risk at some of these sites."