Who would have thought a wrong package delivery could end with a trade deal between two sports teams playing different sports?
It all began when staff members of the Brandon Wheat Kings opened a pallet of bobbleheads for an upcoming giveaway.
After receiving an unusual surprise, the team’s community relations coordinator Chris Falko took to Twitter.
“We were going to post a photo of the bobbleheads, just the pallets, and say to our fans, ‘Hey! The bobbleheads just arrived. Who do you think it is?'”
“Then, about half an hour later, we were going to follow up and say, “Wait a minute, these aren’t our bobbleheads. Who’s Alpha?”
“Alpha” belongs to the Iowa Wolves, a minor league affiliate for the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves.
Due to a shipping mix-up, the Wolves ended up with boxes containing bobbleheads of Wheat Kings legend Marty Murray.
“We didn’t know who Marty Murray was — didn’t know the logo or anything. And then I saw my phone dinged and we’d gotten followed by the Brandon Wheat Kings,” chuckled Ben Swanson, the Wolves’ digital media coordinator.
Being in the businesses of competing for championships — albeit in different sports — the two sides began trade negotiations.
“The obvious one that hit us right away was Krispy Kreme doughnuts! We love Krispy Kreme doughnuts whenever we get to go down to the States and visit the U.S. teams,” Falko said.
“That was one of our first asks and it turns out that was a little too high for the Iowa Wolves to give up.”
The pressure then shifted toward the other end of the rink or court — whichever you prefer.
“We really like the future of breakfast pizza in Iowa, but you have to add assets to a trade to make something like that work and we really need Alpha back here,” Swanson said.
“We ultimately had to throw in a case of beer and a breakfast pizza to get it done, but we’re happy with what we got back,” he said.
The trade deal is officially signed as the two teams have already shipped the bobbleheads and the food across the border.
At the end of the day, both clubs have formed an unexpected partnership due to a comical mistake.
“When you work in promotions, things don’t always go right, things do go wrong. But this was one of those cases where we had a chance to take a negative and turn it into a big positive,” Falko said.
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