A Licensing University session called “Spotlight: Sports Licensing,” produced by Licensing International and held as part of Licensing Expo in late August, hit on a number of current trends impacting the sports licensing landscape. One interesting topic that came up in the presentation, moderated by the late Bill Burke, senior VP marketing strategy and communications […]
Archive | Collegiate
The Ball Is In Collegiate Athletes’ Court
College athletes have been able to capitalize on their names, images, and likenesses (NIL) for less than a month, as the NCAA, on July 1, suspended its NIL rules. They are quickly taking advantage of the new opportunities. The process of getting to this point began back in 2009 when former UCLA basketball player Ed […]
School’s Out
By Karen Raugust on May 4, 2020 in Branding/marketing, Collegiate, COVID-19, Experiential licensing, Licensing
While the spread of the COVID-19 virus has created a long list of challenges and uncertainties for the licensing community, it has also given rise to some untapped opportunities for properties that are a good fit and can capitalize in a way that makes sense. One is to help fill the void for high school […]
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 […]
On the Sidelines
Celebrities who are closely connected to the pro and college sports industry—but not current athletes—have been increasingly lending their names to consumer product lines, either through licensing or their own companies. Their areas of expertise vary: Fantasy sports. Matthew Berry, ESPN’s senior fantasy sports analyst, retained The Wildflower Group in 2016 to handle licensing for […]
Collegiate Consolidation
The collegiate licensing business is about to undergo some profound changes, thanks to two recently announced deals involving major players in the collegiate market. Last week, Fanatics said it had purchased the collegiate licensing operations of Fermata Partners, an agency founded in 2012 and owned by CAA since 2015. Fermata execs Derek Eiler and Chris […]
School Spirit
Last week, the annual conference of the International Collegiate Licensing Association (ICLA), one of several collegiate marketing organizations administered by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), took place in Orlando, Florida. Some of the key topics of conversation, both in the presentations and informally, included: Retail challenges. Collegiate licensors are, like all […]
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 […]
Collegiate Course Correction
The collegiate licensing agency landscape continues to change, as IMG Worldwide announced earlier this week it would lay off 3% of its workforce this month, spread evenly across all its divisions, which include IMG College and the Collegiate Licensing Company. The contraction occurs a year after talent agency William Morris Endeavor acquired IMG. In July […]