If you’ve become interested in purchasing a University of Richmond sweatshirt as a result of the Spiders’ football achievement, you have company.

Online and in-person business yesterday at the UR Bookstore was about triple what it ordinarily is on a December Monday, according to Roger Brooks, the store manager. Brooks has worked at the store since 1980. He compares the current gear run to spurts during the mid-’80s, when the basketball team was unexpectedly making waves in the NCAA tournament.

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Brooks reported yesterday that in-store traffic was heavy but added that Internet orders are king, with sweatshirts leading the way.

UR faces Montana on Friday in Chattanooga, Tenn., for the FCS title. The Spiders already have won three FCS playoff games, vs. Eastern Kentucky, at Appalachian State and at Northern Iowa.

Winning a national championship, almost certainly, would continue to boost business at the UR Bookstore. James Madison won the 2004 national championship. Two months after beating Montana for the title, the JMU Bookstore reported a 22 percent sales increase from the previous year. Store director John Rheault seemed sure that football success was the reason.

He said business picked up “the day after those guys won.”

UR gear is a winner, too
By John O’Connor, The Richmond Times-Dispatch
http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/college/college_football/article/URBS16_20081215-210718/151996/