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College basketball players aren’t the only ones poised to win big in this year’s March Madness.
A New England furniture chain is offering to reimburse customers for products bought earlier this year if both the UConn men’s and women’s basketball teams reach the championship games.
That means some 20,000 Jordan’s Furniture customers could be fully repaid for $50m worth of sales if the two teams win their Final Four games on Friday and Saturday.
For Brian Mazzilli of Plymouth, Massachusetts, that could mean a $3,800 refund for a living room sofa and coffee table. Not previously a college sports fan, he has declared himself an enthusiastic new follower of the Huskies.
“We thought the chances were pretty slim, but now we’re pretty excited,” Mazzilli said in the aftermath of the UConn men’s stunning buzzer-beater win over Duke in last weekend’s Elite Eight. “It just didn’t seem that both teams from one school making it to the finals – that seems kind of a long shot.”
When UConn’s Braylon Mullins hit the winning, 35ft shot to beat Duke, Mazzilli said he was jumping up and down like he did when the Patriots’ Adam Vinatieri kicked the winning, last-second field goal against the Rams in the 2002 Super Bowl to give New England their first NFL title.
Jordan’s isn’t on the hook for the $50m itself. It got insurance for the promotion as it did in 2007 when it offered a similar deal if the Boston Red Sox won the World Series – which they did. In that deal, more than 24,000 customers were reimbursed about $35m.
“We want this to happen,” Eliot Tatelman, the retired president of Jordan’s who is still the face of the Massachusetts-based retailer in TV ads, said in a phone interview Thursday. “Whether they win or lose, I got to pay for the insurance.”
Tatelman said he came up with the UConn promotion idea while thinking of ways to increase the company’s stature in Connecticut, where other furniture businesses have been around longer.
The promotion was offered to customers who bought furniture, mattresses and accessories at Jordan’s from 20 January to 16 February, with some exceptions. The company will send out refund checks if both UConn teams make it to the championship games.
Jordan’s, incorporated in 1928 in Waltham, Massachusetts, by Tatelman’s grandfather, has eight retail locations in New England.
The undefeated, No 1-seeded UConn women take on South Carolina in the Final Four on Friday night, while the men – a No 2 seed – play Illinois on Saturday.
