The front page headline of the Sunday June 5, 2011 Boulder Daily Camera read “CU Beefs up Protection of its Brand.” The article brings new meaning to importance of royalties and the popular phrase, “Your Colorado Buffs.”
The article stated that the university generates approximately $750,000 per year from royalty revenues. The top licensees that pay royalties are:
• EA Sport – video game maker $81,524
• Nike $57,676
• Gear $35,863.
Nationwide, the top collegiate apparel licensee is Knights Apparel, the largest supplier of apparel to Walmart.
The article provides the annual royalty revenues for schools currently in the Pac-10.
USC $2.0 million
UCLA $1.7 million
University of Oregon $1.5 million
Arizona State University $1.2 million
University of California (Berkeley) $1.1 million
University of Washington $1.1 million
Oregon State University $926,000
Washington State University $864,000
University of Colorado $750,000
University of Arizona $740,000
Stanford $707,000.
The total for the Pac-10 is about $11.9 million or $1.2 million per school. By comparison the annual total for the University of Texas is $10 million.
While these amounts are small compared to the total athletic budgets of the respective universities, they are large enough to support one or two minor sport teams. Look for protection of the Ralphie logo and the CU brand to be ramped up as CU enters the PAC-12. These are “Your Colorado Buffaloes” just be careful how you use their logo and Ralphie’s likeness.
