Rose redux, Heisman award propel Bucky sales

The Wisconsin Badgers’ return to the Roses and Ron Dayne’s Heisman Trophy award are translating into an increase in sales of Bucky Badger merchandise – which financially benefits students in need and helps support the UW Athletic Department.

“We’ve been out visiting stores and talking to retailers, and sales are up over last year,” says Cindy Van Matre, director of UW–Madison’s Office of Trademark Licensing. “What’s driving it is the return to the Rose Bowl, a new opponent this year, and people seem to want shirts with (the year) 2000 on them.”

Wisconsin, the Big 10 Conference football champion, will square off against Pac-10 champion Stanford in the Rose Bowl Jan. 1 in Pasadena, Calif. The Badgers defeated UCLA in last year’s Rose Bowl and also won the event in 1994.

UW–Madison collected more than $1.2 million in royalties in 1998-99 from the sale of sweatshirts, hats and other merchandise bearing the Bucky Badger log and various UW–Madison trademarks. And first quarter sales in the 1999-2000 fiscal year have exceeded last fiscal year’s first quarter sales by 37 percent, Van Matre adds.

Royalty income is shared between financially needy students and the Athletic Department. This academic year, 375 undergraduate students, many from Wisconsin, received Bucky Badger Grants averaging $1,000, according to the UW–Madison Office of Student Financial Services.

The Athletic Department uses its portion of the income to remain primarily self-supporting. About 1 percent of Athletics’ budget comes from state tax revenue, and those funds finance women’s sports.

Royalty income has exceeded $1 million in each year but one (1997-98) since the Badgers first won the Rose Bowl in 1994. UW–Madison ranks 10th in merchandise sales nationally in the Collegiate Licensing Company, which administers trademark licensing for approximately 180 universities across the country. Wisconsin ranks fourth among CLC universities with the largest dollar increases for 1999-2000, behind only Connecticut, Tennessee and Florida.

Permission to market the UW–Madison name, Bucky Badger, the motion “W” and other university trademarks must be obtained through the UW–Madison Office of Trademark Licensing. The university currently has licensing agreements with 484 companies, 15 of which are specifically licensed to produce Heisman Trophy apparel.

Companies that illegally market the university’s trademarks are first sent a “cease and desist” letter. Those who don’t comply are turned over to authorities for prosecution.

Van Matre, the CLC and the Pasadena Tournament of Roses, the Rose Bowl’s official sponsor, are on the lookout for counterfeit merchandise, which usually crops up each year around college football’s major bowl games.

“Fortunately, we have not seen too much counterfeit merchandise out there in the marketplace,” Van Matre says. “I attribute that to a combination of people being better educated about what they can and cannot do, and the fact that we have pretty good control over the situation.”

Van Matre also points out that as of Jan. 1, stringent new workplace standards for the university’s licensed manufacturers will take effect. The requirements are full public disclosure of manufacturing locations; the protection of female workers from discrimination and harassment; and complying with provisions of the CLC draft code of conduct.

UW–Madison is one of only a few universities nationwide to impose these requirements on its licensed manufacturers. The new standards are part of the university’s effort to end what is believed to be the use of “sweatshop” labor in the production of apparel and other merchandise bearing UW logos.