A Winning Formula

Three of the leading suppliers of pro sports uniforms and associated merchandise have recently brought to life in the real world the looks worn by fictional sports teams, both new and classic, on the on-screen pitch, rink, or court:

• Earlier this month, Nike and Warner Bros. introduced a collection of kits for AFC Richmond, the fictional British football/soccer club at the center of the TV series Ted Lasso. The capsule includes the home and away jerseys that appear on screen—the first in red and blue and the latter in orange—with each item featuring the logo of the team’s fictional sponsor, the dating app Bantr. In the show, the team’s outfitter in the first two seasons had been Verani Sports, a fictional company. But in the plot of the current (and last) third season, Nike becomes the sponsor, and its logos appear on both the real-life and on-screen uniforms. AFC Richmond t-shirts, hoodies, and soccer scarves are also part of the collection.

• In November of last year, Adidas collaborated with Disney on a capsule centering on the original uniforms from the 1992 film The Mighty Ducks, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2022. The assortment included both the Ducks’ official jersey and the jersey of the Hawks, its opponent in the state championship game depicted in the film. The former features the film’s protagonist Charlie Conway’s last name on the back, while the latter features the last name of Gordon Bombay, the Duck’s coach who had been a star for the Hawks. Three Adidas Ultraboost sneakers, two in Ducks colors (green, gold, and purple) and one in Hawks colors (black, white, and blue) are also included in the assortment.

• Last October, Fila partnered with Warner Bros. for a capsule collection tied to Semi-Pro, a 2008 film comedy starring Will Farrell about a fictional American Basketball Association team, the Flint (Michigan) Tropics. The products include basketball shorts, t-shirts, and hoodies with the Tropics’ logos and teal, orange, and white team colors. The t-shirt includes the last name of Ferrell’s character, Jackie Moon, and his number, 33. Two editions of Fila’s classic Grant Hill 2 sneaker are also included as part of the array.

Merchandise associated with fictional sports teams has occasionally made its way to retail in the past. Back in 2015, Paramount paired with the California skate lifestyle label Grizzly Griptape and retailer PacSun for a collection connected to the 1976 film The Bad News Bears, to name one example. The assortment included a Louisville Slugger-branded baseball bat, baseball jersey, sweatshirt, and t-shirt. This was more of a lifestyle collection inspired by the film—and Grizzly’s bear logo—than a pure in-world collection, but it included the team’s yellow, black, and white color scheme and other elements of the on-screen uniforms.

And of course the Mighty Ducks made perhaps the ultimate leap into the real world when Walt Disney founded an NHL team, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, in 1993, with branding and uniforms inspired by the fictional team. Disney sold the club in 2005 and the new owners changed the name to the Anaheim Ducks, introducing new colors and logos at the same time. Designs reminiscent of the team’s former style have been reintroduced as part of the NHL’s retro jersey program.

The three examples detailed above, all released in the last six months, represent a mini-trend whose potential is somewhat limited, in that sports-themed entertainment vehicles represent a fairly small slice of the entertainment landscape. But these types of programs make sense when possible, given the increasing importance of in-world items as part of entertainment-based licensing programs in general. Taking unique items that appear on screen into the physical world is not only a strong driver of fan engagement. Since in-world products cannot be replicated by the competition, it is also one of the best ways to differentiate film- or TV-branded merchandise from other licensed products out there.