The governing bodies that oversee professional racing across a variety of vehicles and types, along with other racing-related properties, have been active on the consumer products front since the beginning of 2022. Many have signed new licensing deals (especially in gaming, toys, and collectibles), extended existing agreements, launched new product lines, retained new agents, and/or […]
Archive | Sports
Homegrown Hits
Individual teams that are members of the leading U.S.-based pro sports leagues have increasingly been pairing with local fashion labels—mostly of the streetwear genre—for clothing collaborations available only in their home markets. Clubs in all five of the major leagues have served as examples of this phenomenon: National Football League. The Cincinnati Bengals paired with […]
Just for Kicks
While collaborations between fashion labels and football/soccer clubs in Europe and elsewhere are nothing new, the landscape is expanding, with more clubs and more fashion labels entering into such agreements. The fashion styles range from luxury to streetwear to denim; in many cases the club’s main kit supplier is part of the equation as well. […]
Wrestling Groups Pin Down New Deals
Last week WWE announced a multifaceted partnership with Fanatics. This is just the latest in a string of initiatives that have surfaced in the past year or so involving wrestling-related IP. Properties and brands at the forefront include: WWE. Its long-term, global deal with Fanatics encompasses e-commerce (including a reintroduction of the WWE Shop); licensed […]
Slam-Dunk Combinations
The major athletic footwear/sportswear companies involved in pro sports-related licensing are increasingly pairing individuals from their portfolios of U.S. pro athlete-endorsers—especially NBA players—with properties from outside the realm of sports. The examples have been piling up slowly since 2019 (a few were released even before that), with the pace of new products picking up in […]
NIL Service Providers in the News
A lot has happened since collegiate athletes and other students gained the right to commercially exploit their own names, images, and likenesses (NIL) nine months ago, on July 1, 2021. For one thing, a variety of services and platforms—marketplaces, group licensing and marketing agencies, educational and back-end resource providers, and the like—have been formed to […]
Turning to the Pros
Since collegiate athletes earned the right to exploit their names, images, and likenesses (NIL) last July, many companies have materialized to guide them in this new pursuit. These organizations include individual and group licensing agents specializing in NIL, marketplaces that matchmake athletes with corporate partners, platforms to educate athletes on the dos and don’ts of […]
Toward Gender Parity?
One of the predictions earlier this year, when collegiate athletes gained the ability to commercially exploit their names, images, and likenesses (NIL), was that the change would ultimately give female athletes as many opportunities as their male counterparts to generate revenue, something that hasn’t been true in professional sports to date. While it is still […]
Taking a Shot at Pot
Athletes associated with the NBA have been active in the cannabis sector in the past few months. Sports properties have had a strong presence since partnerships with licensed IP began in this industry in earnest around 2015. The difference with these recent deals is that they focus on marijuana strains and related products rather than […]
Trading Card Transformations
The trading card industry has been experiencing a number of changes this year, from skyrocketing interest in collecting, to decades-long licensing agreements changing hands, to the emergence of new opportunities including non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and collegiate name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights. Some of the key trends to watch: A pandemic-fueled rise in popularity. Interest […]