Dick’s Sporting Goods Senior Community Marketing Manager Tom Osborn said that when the company’s store in Louisville opened at midnight Tuesday, just after the men's national championship game, "about 50 people were waiting outside the store" to be the first to get official Univ. of Louisville championship merchandise, according to Chris Otts of the Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL. But one fan was “disappointed not to find any shirts celebrating the women’s team’s run in the NCAA Tournament.” Sarah Chandler said, “That has been my beef, that we have not seen any women’s shirts at all.” Osborn “couldn’t say why the store didn’t have Final Four merchandise specific to the women’s team” (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 4/10).
SCHOOL FEVER: MARKETING DAILY’s Karl Greenberg cited Collegiate Licensing Company data that showed that last year saw $4.62B in "retail sales of collegiate licensed merchandise, which the organization says is an all-time high, beating every sport but” MLB. Of that figure, March Madness generates about $10M. Leading the “merchandising game" is Univ. of Kentucky men’s basketball with $1.2M in gross royalties in '12. CLC Senior VP & Managing Dir Cory Moss said that schools “make the final decision on licensees, with universities splitting royalties with manufacturers.” He added that agencies like CLC “do a lot of the heavy lifting to create lasting interest and brand value around -- and especially after -- events like The Final Four.” Moss said that the biggest growth trend “is the women's category” (MEDIAPOST.com, 4/8).
