{"id":54767,"date":"2025-05-12T15:00:49","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T15:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=54767"},"modified":"2025-05-12T15:00:49","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T15:00:49","slug":"chicago-businesses-cash-in-on-pope-mania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=54767","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Businesses Cash In On Pope Mania"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Credibility:<\/h4>\n
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  • Original Reporting<\/li>\n
  • Sources Cited<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
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    <\/td>\nOriginal Reporting<\/td>\nThis article contains new, firsthand information uncovered by its reporter(s). This includes directly interviewing sources and research\/analysis of primary source documents.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    <\/td>\nSources Cited<\/td>\nAs a news piece, this article cites verifiable, third-party sources which have all been thoroughly fact-checked and deemed credible by the Newsroom.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n
    \"Chicago
    There’s local pope merch to both wear and eat. Credit: Harebrained\/Portillo’s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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    CHICAGO \u2014 Chicago businesses are passing a collection basket of their own after South Sider Robert Francis Prevost was elected pope.<\/p>\n

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    \"Chicago
    Robert Prevost, a Chicago native, will serve as Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope. Credit: Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

    Prevost is the first American pope \u2014 and now the world\u2019s most famous White Sox fan. His selection as pontiff last week saw Chicagoans celebrating with memes, Masses \u2014 and merchandise.<\/p>\n

    Anthony Hall, owner of Portage Park-based clothing company Harebrained, had designed and posted a \u201cPope Chicago\u201d T-shirt over a retro White Sox logo within 20 minutes of the announcement about Prevost\u2019s appointment. Hall replaced the cap with the pope\u2019s miter and the baseball bat with a cross.<\/p>\n

    Hall had sold about 100 of the $28 shirts by Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n

    \u201cThere wasn\u2019t any market for this 24 hours ago,\u201d Hall said. \u201cBut people want what everyone is talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Also in on the T-shirt sprint is Obvious Shirts, a local brand with a Wrigleyville storefront that was so fast to the punch it launched a full line of Cubs-themed pope shirts before early reports that Prevost was a Cubs fan were batted down by his brother.<\/p>\n

    \u201cI\u2019m fine with the Pope being a Sox fan. I\u2019m just glad he\u2019s no longer a Cardinal,\u201d Obvious Shirts owner Joe Johnson wrote on social media platform X before offering up a new blue shirt with the same phrase.<\/p>\n

    Johnson is also offering White Sox pope shirts and ones with more unifying themes, including \u201cDa Pope\u201d and \u201cMy Pope Drinks Mal\u00f6rt.\u201d Johnson said he\u2019ll send at least a portion of proceeds to the Archdiocese of Chicago and the Greater Chicago Food Depository.<\/p>\n

    It makes him feel better about profiting off the pontiff.<\/p>\n

    \u201cI struggled with it,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI had too many people asking for a shirt. \u2026 I might as well give them what they want and spin it into a good cause.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Johnson said he\u2019s sold hundreds of the shirts. \u201cDa Pope\u201d is the runaway favorite.<\/p>\n

    Multiple attempts to trademark \u201cDa Pope\u201d on shirts were filed Thursday.<\/p>\n

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    In Chicago\u2019s Beverly neighborhood, home good store Oleander & Artesian quickly sold out of $16 hand-stamped leather keychains with messages like \u201cthe pope calls it Comiskey.\u201d<\/p>\n

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    <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

    The Sun-Times is selling duffle bags, mugs and T-shirts with the design of Thursday\u2019s \u201cDa Pope!\u201d front page. Local sports outlet CHGO also has its own $35 \u201cSweet Pope Chicago\u201d shirt.<\/p>\n

    On Friday, Portillo\u2019s started selling an Italian beef sandwich dubbed \u201cThe Leo,\u201d which the chain boasted as being \u201cbaptized in gravy.\u201d La Boulangerie Chicago was selling an \u201cAll Hail The Pope\u201d baguette shaped like a cross.<\/p>\n

    The Cubs had already changed its famed marquee to read \u201cHe\u2019s A Cubs Fan!\u201d before Prevost\u2019s brother revealed he\u2019s a Sox fan. Shortly afterward, the White Sox circulated photos of a custom \u201cPope Leo\u201d jersey they said was \u201calready on the way to Rome.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Vendors selling papal-themed shirts are a common sight in Vatican City. Hall said Chicagoans deserve to also benefit off their own good news.<\/p>\n

    The pope has been one of Hall\u2019s biggest boons since he dropped a line of \u201cShut The F\u2014 Up About Chicago\u201d shirts after Fox News aired a segment interviewing people in suburban Naperville after Chicago\u2019s mayoral election.<\/p>\n

    \u201cThere\u2019s so much civic pride here,\u201d Hall said.<\/p>\n

    He\u2019s not sure when the local \u201cPope mania\u201d may slow down.<\/p>\n

    \u201cNot everyone in the city is Catholic,\u201d Hall said. \u201cFor the day, 100 new people shopping my website, it\u2019s great.\u201d<\/p>\n

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    Listen to the Block Club Chicago podcast:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n