MainGate enjoys boost from Pacers’ playoff ‘gold-out’ promotion

A deep playoff run by the Indiana Pacers could be good news for Indianapolis-based merchandising company MainGate Inc.

MainGate cranked out 20,000 Indiana Pacers T-shirts in 48 hours earlier this week for the first “gold out” in Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The gold-filled arena made quite a splash on national TV.

The T-shirts, featuring the slogan, “Gold Swagger,” were draped over 18,165 Fieldhouse seats before Thursday night’s Pacers home playoff victory against the Miami Heat. The rest were given to Pacers employees and other supporters.

There’s no time to rest for MainGate. On Friday, the company was set to finish printing 18,165 blue and gold mini-towels to be distributed free to fans at Sunday’s home playoff game.

Sections of fans at Game 4 of the series will be given blue towels with gold print and alternating sections will be given gold towels with blue print. The towels will read “Proud to be one of 18,165 strong.”

“We think the different color towels in the fieldhouse, with the alternating sections, is going to look really awesome live and on TV,” MainGate CEO Dave Moroknek said. “Our employees are really excited to be working on this project.”

MainGate, which was founded in 1963 and works with numerous professional sports teams and athletes, started working with the Pacers in 2008.

The Pacers playoff business is a low- to mid- five-figure piece of business for Maingate, Moroknek said.

MainGate officials said they keep blank T-shirts and towels in Pacers colors ready in their distribution center in case Pacers officials call for promotional items.

“We never budget for playoff business, so this is a nice piece of incremental business,” he said. “We’re always happy to be busy, and this project is extra special for us because this is the hometown team.”

Moroknek and his staff are already meeting with Pacers officials to discuss a promotion for Game 6 of the series next Thursday should that be necessary.

“I think you’ll see something special there, too. We’re just talking about what it could look like,” Moroknek said. “We’re going to do something that will make the Fieldhouse beam with excitement.”

MainGate officials said the Pacers didn’t order extra shirts like the ones used Thursday night for possible retail sale, but they’ll be willing to crank some out if necessary.