UF Looking To Expand On Marketing, Revenue With BCS Win Tonight
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UF Licensing Manager Debbie Gay Says School
Gets About 20-30 Licensing Requests A Week |
The Univ. of Florida (UF) has "seen royalties grow to a high" of $5.9M in '06-07 from $2.4M in '04-05, and with UF playing in the BCS National Championship game tonight against the Univ. of Oklahoma, royalties "could rise again," according to Sarah Talalay of the South Florida SUN-SENTINEL. UF has won three national championships since '06 -- two in men's basketball and one in football -- and the school's success has "meant more requests to place Florida's logo on new merchandise." UF Licensing Manager Debbie Gay said that she "gets about 20 to 30 licensing requests a week." A "recent proposal was for a grill topper that sears the UF logo into the grilling meats." Masik Collegiate Fragrances, which launched this fall with cologne and perfume for Penn State Univ. and the Univ. of North Carolina, "also expects to release UF fragrances this year." UF Associate AD/Auxilary Services Mike Spiegler said that if the school wins tonight, it "might expand the roster of jersey numbers Nike produces" beyond 01, 96, 06, which are linked to championships, and 15, worn by QB Tim Tebow. Talalay notes UF gets a 10% royalty on the wholesale cost -- "typically half the retail price -- of items that bear the school's name or logo," and gets 12% from national championship merchandise (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 1/8).
TICKET TO RIDE: In Miami, Douglas Hanks noted brokers for tonight's title game "report tickets are selling for as much as half off" compared to last year's LSU-Ohio State title game. The average price for a BCS ticket on Stubhub.com "hit $680 this week," compared with the $1,360 average price for last year's game at the Superdome (MIAMI HERALD, 1/7). In Jacksonville, Michael DiRocco reported UF "put up 12,000 tickets for sale" for tonight's game, and "nearly all were purchased by the highest contributors to UF athletics and tenured faculty members." Each buyer "paid face value of $175 per ticket." UF Assistant AD/Ticket Operations Mark Gajda said that there was a "record demand for ticket among boosters" (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 1/6).
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