Winning Season Sends Pawthentics Sportswear Into High Gear

Last summer, launching a line of authentic Washington State University sportswear seemed like little more than a good idea. Athletic Director Rick Dickson and his staff figured they might bring in about $100,000 a year.

Then the football team started winning. And winning. And earning a berth to the Rose Bowl.

That “ka-ching” sound you hear is the cash register in the basement of Bohler Gym as it tallies thousands in Pawthentics sales each day.

“The interest is there,” said Jon Oliver, the athletic compliance director who oversees the program, “and it seems now everybody wants a piece of the Cougars.”

WSU officials may be looking to the Rose Bowl as a potential windfall of alumni donations, new students and prestige, but in the end the biggest boon may be in T-shirt sales.

And sweat shirts. And shot glasses. Anything with the licensed WSU name and Cougar logo.

The University of Oregon saw its licensed product revenues double to about $500,000 when it went to the 1995 Rose Bowl, said Matt Dyste, director of licensing.

Pawthentics alone has already topped gross sales of $280,000, with more than $84,000 coming since the Apple Cup, said Oliver. The bulk of profits from those sales will go to student athletic scholarships.

Sales of more established WSU products are so massive that Steve Schauble, executive assistant to the vice president of extended university affairs, hopes to bring in more than $750,000 in royalties.

With a Rose Bowl win over No. 1-ranked Michigan - and the ensuing raft of “Rose Bowl Champion” paraphernalia - the admittedly optimistic Schauble sees the potential to hit $1.2 million.

Last year, WSU had only $253,000 in royalties, which come from a 7.5 percent take off the wholesale price of each item. Half the proceeds go to athletic scholarships and the other half is for universitywide scholarships.

, DataTimes