Menu
Colleges

Michigan State looks to CLC to boost licensing revenue

Michigan State has long been known for handling its business in-house, including its multimedia rights and licensing. But the school did an about-face on the licensing front last week, signing Collegiate Licensing Co. to be its agent.

The Spartans have run their own licensing program for as long as they’ve had one, which was one reason CLC trumpeted the signing as one of the biggest in the company’s 30-plus year history. Until now, the school has run its licensing out of a university department, and athletics has had no oversight of the program.

CLC won the Michigan State business over Fermata Partners and Learfield Licensing, which are CLC’s two primary competitors in the space.

“What we found is that CLC has the resources and the services that we lacked,” said Samantha Stevens, Michigan State’s director of licensing, who joined the school six months ago after stints at Miami (Ohio) and Appalachian State.

Michigan State generated $4 million in licensing revenue last year, a number the school hopes will grow substantially with CLC’s aid. Of that total, 45 percent goes to athletics, meaning the Spartans count just under $2 million in revenue from licensing. The $4 million total would put Michigan State 10th on CLC’s 2014 rankings of the best-selling school brands. CLC represents close to 200 colleges.

Mark Hollis, Michigan State’s athletic director, was asked last week if the Spartans’ decision to outsource licensing could lead to outsourcing multimedia rights as well, but he said it would be a mistake to connect decisions about licensing and multimedia rights.

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2015/06/22/Colleges/CLC-Michigan.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2015/06/22/Colleges/CLC-Michigan.aspx

CLOSE