ESPN.com's Darren Rovell wrote under the header, "The Incredible Rise Of Oregon As A Merchandising Powerhouse." UO "is known for its innovative marketing and appeal to a younger audience." The school in the past two years "has jumped into the top 10 most popular college teams by licensing royalties." The program last year brought in $4.8M in royalties -- "four times what it brought in only five years before." Nearly 400 licensees currently "make Oregon gear, and the competition outside of the state to make green and yellow merchandise is at unprecedented levels" (ESPN.com, 1/9).
DUCKS FLY TOGETHER: BLOOMBERG NEWS' Buteau & Novy-Williams note Fermata Partners, the official licensing company of UO's athletic department, is "led by" co-Founder & Partner Chris Prindiville, who is a UO grad, as well as co-Founder & Managing Dir Derek Eiler and two other partners. The company "made an immediate splash last year, signing Kentucky, Miami and Georgia away from their former employer," CLC and when UO "decided its athletics brand had outgrown the school’s internal licensing division, Fermata made another addition." Tonight's CFP National Championship "puts Fermata on its biggest stage so far" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 1/12).
JUST (MAYBE) DO IT: In Portland, John Canzano reported Nike is “busy plotting a tribute to Oregon football that may or may not see airtime depending on the outcome of the national title game” against OSU. A few former UO players said that Nike “put together an Isley Brothers ‘Shout!’ tribute television commercial that will feature a line of prominent former Oregon football players.” The commercial was “filmed over the last couple of weeks,” and Nike “secured the commercial airtime prior to the Rose Bowl.” The 60-second commercial is “slotted to air in the first commercial break after the national title game is decided -- but only if Oregon wins” (OREGONLIVE.com, 1/10).
CRACKING DOWN: In Dallas, Owen Covington reports CLC as part of its duties as the exclusive licensing agent for the CFP was "in charge of cracking down on counterfeiters" beginning over the weekend in Dallas and "carrying through to the end of the game" tonight in Arlington. The CLC team "works with local law enforcement agencies to enforce state trademark laws that counterfeiters violate by offering nonlicensed gear." The CFP "has licensed its trademarks to 40 different entities that can then produce official products for sale." During the Oregon-Florida State CFP semifinal game at the Rose Bowl, CLC "confiscated about 1,200 pieces of counterfeit gear from peddlers" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 1/12).
ROYALTY'S LOYALTY: Cavaliers F LeBron James, a Nike endorser, said of his rooting interest in tonight's game, "I'm picking [Ohio State], and obviously I got my guys in Portland taking Oregon." In Cleveland, Joe Vardon noted James over the weekend "facilitated new Beats by Dre headphones for all the Buckeyes players." James: "I had to make sure I got the clearance from the athletic director, got the clearance from everybody before I did that, made sure I wasn't breaking any rules. You know how the NCAA is" (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 1/12).
