Sale Of Collegiate Sports Merchandise Making A Run At The Pros

The sale of collegiate sports merchandise rivals that of the sale of professional merchandise. In 1994, the Collegiate Licensing Company estimated that $2.5 billion in college merchandise was sold.

The Collegiate Licensing Company, based in Atlanta, is the largest collegiate licensee in the company and has contracts with 145 colleges and universities nationwide.

In the company’s first year of business in 1984, CLC estimated that its members made $400 million in merchandise sales. That figure reached $1.2 billion by 1990, and it is expected to hit $2.75 billion this year.

“The merchandising industry kind of developed just 10 years ago,” said Dianne Shoemake, CLC’s public relations director.

“At one point, 90 percent of all college merchandise purchased was done on the campuses themselves. Now, just 15 percent of all college merchandise is bought on the campuses.”

Although CLC is not a licensee for Notre Dame, that school sells the most merchandise of all colleges and universities nationwide.

Of the 145 schools CLC licenses, Michigan, Florida State, North Carolina, Penn State and Nebraska are the most popular schools.

“There is no question that there is a very strong correlation between athletic success and licensing success,” Shoemake said.

, DataTimes