The Game Headwear
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| Corporation | |
| Founded | Columbus, GA (1960) |
| Headquarters | Columbus, GA, USA |
| Website | www.2thegame.com |
The Game Headwear originated as Neil's Sporting Goods in the 1960s. Initially started to equip little league and school athletic teams, the company's business greatly increased in the 1970s and 1980s. Nine stores in the Georgia cities of Albany, Columbus, and LaGrange and the Alabama cities of Phenix City and Auburn allowed The Game to become one of the most important sports apparel companies in the Southeastern United States.
The business grew rapidly during the 1970s and early 80’s until Neil had built a small chain of 9 sporting good stores covering Phenix City, AL; Auburn, AL; Columbus, GA; Albany, GA; and LaGrange, GA. The business grew steadily until he had become one of the largest sporting goods retailers in the southeast.
Neil’s Sport Shops grew into multiple divisions, which included a retail segment, team sales, concessions and military. By expanding his business into multiple lines, Neil began to see the growth potential that the sporting goods market had to offer. By 1984, the business had grown significantly and Neil began searching for something opportunities to expand. He sold his company to the W.C. Bradley Company in Columbus, GA and stayed on as an officer. The separate divisions of Neil’s Sport Shops were eventually sold to other buyers. One of the buyers was Neil’s older brother Bill who bought the concession business and managed the concession sales for the majority of the Southeastern Conference Schools. Neil saw the growth that was happening in the concession sales as well as the retail side of the sporting goods business. He had been overseas and seen the opportunity to import products for his stores and soon decided to import sporting goods apparel on his own to sell to the different colleges.
In 1986, Neil formed The Game and the W.C. Bradley Company agreed to stay involved as a financial partner. The primary focus of The Game was to provide headwear designs for Colleges across the country. This would include everything from the initial design of the caps to the sales force that would call on the individual schools. Neil’s younger brother Phil was an independent salesman for Nike at this time and also agreed to represent The Game. Soon afterwards, Phil helped develop a national sales force for The Game through his contacts with other salesmen throughout the country. Within a matter of months, The Game had its first product designs and a national sales force in place to sell it. All of this happened at a time when the demand for college apparel was about to skyrocket.
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