|
Sales Of Duke Lacrosse
Merchandise Up During Scandal
|
Sales of merchandise bearing the “Duke lacrosse” name and logo “have skyrocketed
... in the wake of publicity generated by the sexual assault scandal surrounding”
the men’s lacrosse team, according to Darren Rovell of ESPN.com. Tom Craig, GM
of retail stores at Duke Univ., said, “Historically, lacrosse has been one of
our three or four best-selling sports. But over the last month, sales have increased
to three or four times our normal rate.” Craig said that items “aren’t identified
as men’s or women’s lacrosse, so there was never a discussion with university
officials about the possibility of stopping sales after news of the scandal broke.”
MGP & Associates PR President Mike Paul: “The dilemma here hinges on the fact
that there is still a very good women’s team playing.” Duke’s women’s lacrosse
team is ranked No. 1 in the country, while the men’s team had its season cancelled.
Rovell reported Dick’s Sporting Goods has pulled all Duke lacrosse merchandise
from the shelves in its five Raleigh-Durham area stores. Dick’s Senior VP & CMO
Jeff Hennion: “Having that type of product out in front or our customers seemed
to be a lightning rod. And secondly, we had customers who saw it out in the store
and complained about it.” Rovell noted Duke lacrosse shirts are available for
$11.95 on the school athletic department’s Web site (ed. note: the only size currently
available for Duke lacrosse T-shirts on the site is small). On eBay, the average
price for a Duke lacrosse item is $17.04, up from $7.74 a month ago. In early
March, “only a handful of Duke lacrosse items changed hands in a week” on eBay,
while 79 items sold last week (
ESPN.com,
4/19).
