With the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup Finals in progress, WWE, the wrestling entertainment brand, announced last week that it was creating an officially licensed legacy championship belt for the winning team. The belt, like those given to winners of wrestling events, highlights the Stanley Cup in the center, where the WWE logo usually resides, […]
Tag Archives | NFL Players Association
Leagues Go Large on NFTs
Pro sports leagues from around the world, along with their players associations, have been among the most active property types to date in the world of NFTs. And many tend to think big, signing long-term deals for marketplaces rather than focusing on individual collections of NFTs, although they do that too. This year, and especially […]
Pay for Play
A number of recent developments are blurring the lines between amateur and pro sports, both at the collegiate and Olympic levels. If the trend continues, it may open significant opportunities for the licensing community. California enacted the Fair Pay to Play Act, which allows college athletes to receive money for endorsements without jeopardizing their scholarships […]
Going for the Win
Deals announced in summer and fall 2019 illustrate some of the key current trends in the sports licensing business: Rising activity around women’s sports. The English Netball League, a 90-plus-year-old women’s sports entity, signed a deal with British retailer Oasis for a range of apparel, with players Ama Agbze, Eboni Usoro-Brown, and Jade Clarke appearing […]
Giving Voice to Smart Electronics
One of the biggest topics of conversation at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was the prominence of voice assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Assistant, Apple’s Siri, Samsung’s Bixby, Roku’s Entertainment Assistant, and Microsoft’s Cortana. Not only are such voice assistants associated with smart speakers (e.g., Amazon’s Echo or Google’s Home), which […]
Forever Young
Earlier this year, Pop Warner Little Scholars named Ignite 2X as its agent for Pop Warner sports, fan, and lifestyle products in all categories. The organization, which focuses on youth football and cheer/dance and offers various scholastic programs, plans products ranging from apparel, school supplies, toys, and collectibles, to home accents and electronic games. The […]
Social Media-Inspired Design
Social media has permeated the licensing business as a marketing tool, as an inspiration for products (e.g. selfie sticks), as a source of properties, and as a content platform. Not surprisingly, it has also given birth to a number of design trends: Hashtags. Licensors and licensees are integrating hashtags into graphics for apparel and accessories. […]
College Co-Brands
Over the past few years, collegiate licensing programs have upped their co-branding and cross-licensing activities, creating initiatives that combine their own marks with outside properties of various types: Local pro teams. Licensee Champion forged a deal for apparel that blends the IP of the Texas Tech University Red Raiders with that of Major League Baseball’s […]
The Evolving World of Branded E-Commerce
Licensors and licensees are watching developments in the brand-specific e-commerce space. While recent announcements from Fanatics and Delivery Agent have little in common on the surface, together they reflect the challenges facing property-specific e-commerce due to fast-paced technology changes, quickly evolving consumer shopping patterns, and ever-expanding competition. Service providers either adapt or fail. Fanatics confirmed […]
Celebrity Sightings
Celebrity presence at this year’s Licensing International Expo, which officially opens tomorrow (June 21, 2016), promises to skew toward the sports arena, as many of the scheduled appearances are tied to athletes or others in the sports industry. The NFL Players Association is bringing a contingent of pro football team members, from Ameer Abdullah of […]