• by Tanya Gazdik , Yesterday

Jordan's Furniture executives are breathing a sigh of relief.

“That’s because the furniture retailer won't be on the hook for $50 million in refunds for a ‘Make the Finals’ promotion that offered free furniture to anyone who bought items, with no limit, at Jordan's between Jan. 20 and March 1,” according to CT Insider. “The one catch? Both of UConn's basketball teams needed to make the national championship game in their respective tournaments.”

The regional furniture company created an old-school promotional stunt now engineered for viral amplification and PR pickup, not just sales. 

While the men’s team will play in the final Monday (Go Huskies!) the UConn women's team was upset by South Carolina in Phoenix on Friday.

Eliot Tatelman, the furniture company’s former president (pictured above) who recently passed it down to his sons, was actually hoping for the double win, he told The Athletic. 

“I pay insurance. I’m gambling that I’m going to increase my business, help my branding, and do all of that, but because of this promotion, I’m willing to take a certain small percentage to pay for insurance,” said Tatelman, who is still the face of the retailer.  

In addition to having insurance, he hopes to make up for any lost money with added publicity. It’s happened before.

“We are totally covered,” he said. “If it happens, it’s the best thing that we’re going to give all of our customers free furniture. It doesn’t get any better.”

Jordan’s Furniture has eight stores in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. The promotion was announced before March Madness began. 

“Because it's such a rarity for both of a school's basketball teams to reach the NCAA Tournament title game — it's only happened twice, both with UConn in 2004 and 2014 — the odds would typically be stacked against the promotion being fulfilled,” according to The Sporting News. “The store also had a similar promo in 2007, when the Boston Red Sox were in the World Series. If the Red Sox won, the store pledged to give out free furniture; Boston would end up sweeping the Colorado Rockies in four games that series. 30,000 happy customers received free furniture.”