Colleges Get a Cut
From Being Kicked
When They're Down
The moment the clock runs out at next week's big football game between the University of Alabama and Auburn University, the big business of loser taunting will begin.
At a T-shirt factory in Leesburg, Fla., 20 employees will spring into action and produce 3,000 shirts designed to embarrass the conquered team. Throughout Alabama, thousands of fans will display figurines depicting Auburn's tiger mascot strangling the Alabama elephant, or vice versa. Some 6,000 rocks, ranging from paperweights to boulders and featuring the winner's logo, will appear on fans' desks and front lawns with the likeness of a defeated player squashed underneath like a pancake.
You might expect the losing college to be upset about the violence directed its way. To the contrary, it'll be cashing in.
In the $3 billion college-logo retail market, there's growing demand for "rivalry merchandise" in which two schools allow their trademarks to appear on the same item, even if one team is being throttled, humiliated or labeled as a loser. The schools share revenue and say the products highlight the traditions of their rivalries. But getting merchandise to market can be a convoluted process as universities struggle to reconcile the lure of commerce with the boundaries of taste.
Schools say if they don't license rivalry products, fans will buy even grosser knockoffs from bootleggers. Still, decision making is inconsistent. Why did 25 colleges approve products depicting their mascots being boiled alive in soup pots, while many remain sensitive about allowing their mascots to be shown cooked on a grill?
"Sometimes their logic is elusive," says Ron Bohler, licensing director of Memory Co., Phenix City, Ala., the market leader in nonapparel rivalry products. This year, rivalry items account for 15% of its sales, up from 5% in 2002.
Atlanta-based Collegiate Licensing Co., which represents 180 schools, receives pitches each year from about 2,000 companies proposing 150,000 designs, more and more of which exploit rivalries. Schools earn about 8% of the wholesale value of licensed products. The school being mocked usually earns a smaller cut than the school being celebrated because the celebrators do most of the buying.
Mike Rupp, president of Ruppshirts Inc. of Tallahassee, Fla., says rivalry sales have grown to 50% of his college business. Mr. Rupp creates shirts such as a University of North Carolina special featuring a classroom of smiling grade-school kids. Their hands are raised eagerly in the air. The caption: "OK, class ... who can't stand Duke?"
TL Sportswear in Leesburg, Fla., has its rivalry operation down to a science. On Saturdays, one second after a big game ends, its presses start turning out licensed shirts. TL Sportswear President J.R. Hirschfeld says his "secret" distribution system can deliver shirts as far as Montana by the following morning. Speed is crucial. "By Wednesday, the shirts are dead," he says. "People have the next game on their minds."
Other products are more enduring. In Dunedin, Fla., kindergarten teacher Vicki McMullen, a Florida State fan, wears a three-dimensional pin of a University of Florida alligator with a spear through its head. "It never comes off my jacket," she says.
The authorized products don't have enough ire to satisfy some fans. That's why nastier unlicensed products -- such as "Kill the Irish" shirts for Notre Dame haters -- are even more popular.
"It's not acceptable to go up to your rival and say, 'Go to hell!' So you do it with a clever shirt," says Trevor Livesay, a 32-year-old Montana State graduate. Mr. Livesay's favorite is the unlicensed shirt he bought from Rival Rags, Spokane, Wash. It pokes fun at the University of Montana's Grizzly mascot while alluding to something bears do in the woods.
Knowing fans crave edgier products, licensed wholesalers push colleges to be broader minded. One figurine Memory proposed showed a mascot buried up to his chin with the opposing team poised to kick off his head. The colleges balked. "There's a lot of violence on the football field, so what's the big deal with this?" wonders Randy Brown, Memory's president.
Colleges have turned down designs in which the faces on figurines seemed too black. Memory says it came up with a "happy medium" facial color that seems neither black nor white so that no race is singled out for ridicule.
One company proposed a shirt showing a child dropping into a toilet the head of a Seminole Indian warrior, symbol of Florida State. Sherri Dye, the school's director of licensing, said no, citing in part racial sensitivities. "I told them they could drop a [football] helmet instead," says Ms. Dye.
Every time a design is tweaked, it must be reapproved. The "Collegiate Crusher" rock is licensed by 21 universities, but fans have to lift it up to see the pancaked opposing player. Ed Clancy, the rock's co-creator, says buyers want to see protruding fingers, and hopes colleges will sign off on this change.
Southern universities are more willing than most to aggressively disparage each other as long as designs avoid sex, drugs and profanity. Yet even college officials who are open-minded about violence can be sticklers about seemingly trivial concerns. "Some won't let us use the word 'ain't,' " complains Ruppshirt's Mr. Rupp. "But it isn't funny to use the word 'isn't.' "
Mr. Rupp isn't giving up. He watches for turnover among licensing directors and resubmits the wording. A shirt for Florida State fans, featuring the University of Florida's alligator with a tire track across its back, was nixed by the colleges when it featured the words "Road Kill." They signed off when Mr. Rupp changed it to "Road Trip."
Northern schools are generally more circumspect. By rejecting rivalry-product proposals, "we're conceivably losing a good bit of money," says Rob Cleveland, an Ohio State University licensing official. The licensing policy at the college, last year's national champions, says it "can never be depicted as the vanquished opponent."
Ohio State's 500 licensed wholesalers can't compete with cruder fare offered by bootleggers who line up outside the stadium on game day. There, Ohio State supporters taunt archrival University of Michigan with shirts saying, "I brake for animals except wolverines," the Michigan mascot. Pro-Michigan bootleggers fire back with bumper stickers: "Directions to Columbus: South until you smell it. East until you step in it."
Much of the market remains outside colleges' control. In 1999, Florida State Heisman Trophy candidate Peter Warrick pleaded guilty to petty theft. Within days, Smack Apparel, Tampa, Fla., sold 8,000 "Heistman Trophy" shirts to University of Florida fans. Collegiate Licensing demanded it stop. Smack pressed on, insisting the "parody" had First Amendment protection. The matter never went to court.
嘲笑对手成产业
输赢不计皆欢喜
等到了下周亚拉巴马大学(University of Alabama)与奥本大学(Auburn University)举行大型橄榄球比赛的时候，嘲笑失败者的盛事也将拉开帷幕。
在佛罗里达州里斯堡的一家T恤衫厂内，20名员工将开始动手制作3,000件用来羞辱失败球队的T恤衫。在整个亚拉巴马州，成千上万的球迷将可以展示各种小雕像，或者是奥本大学的吉祥物老虎扼杀了亚拉巴马大学的吉祥物大象，或者反之。大约6,000块上面刻著获胜球队标志的石头，从小小的镇纸石到巨石，将出现在球迷的书桌和门前的草坪上，而底下则是失败球队队员模样的人被碾成了薄饼。
你可能会认为这种目标明确的嘲弄将令失败的一方感到难堪和沮丧，实际上恰恰相反，失败的大学也将抓住机会大捞一笔。
在价值30亿美元的大学标识物零售市场上，对这种“竞赛商品”的需求量越来越大，因此两家大学都允许他们的标识同时出现在同一件商品上，即使有一方的球队被扼杀、羞辱或者贴上了失败者的标签。两家大学将分享收入，并且认为这种产品强调了他们与对手之间的渊源。但是，让商品走上市场仍是个曲折的过程，这些大学也正努力地在商业诱惑与雅俗品味的界限之间求得平衡。
这些学校表示，即使他们不授权生产这种“竞赛商品”，球迷们也会从假冒者手中购买制作更粗糙的这类玩意儿。然而，各个学校的决策并不一致。那么，为什么会有25家大学同意生产描绘其吉祥物受侮辱的产品，而其他大学却对此表现得颇为敏感呢？
位于亚拉巴马州菲尼克斯城的Memory Co.是在非服装类竞赛产品市场上领先的企业。今年，公司“竞赛商品”的销售额占总销售额的15%，高于2002年的5%。公司授权部主管荣?鲍勒(Ron Bohler)表示，学校方面的决策有时令人难以捉摸。
位于亚特兰大的Collegiate Licensing Co.为180所学校代理授权事宜，它每年收到来自大约2,000家公司的15万种设计方案。越来越多的设计是服务于学校间的对抗竞赛。学校可以获得相当于授权产品批发价格8%左右的收入。被嘲弄的学校通常比获胜的学校分享更少的份额，因为产品买方大多是获胜学校的庆祝者。
位于佛罗里达州塔拉哈西的Ruppshirts Inc.的总裁迈克-拉普(Mike Rupp)表示，“竞赛商品”的销售额已经增长到公司学校业务收入的50%。拉普自己就设计了一种T恤衫：一个北卡罗来纳大学(University of North Carolina)的专门标志被加工成一间教室，教室里坐满了面带笑容的小学生，他们都争先恐后地举著手，旁边的说明文字是：“好了，同学们，谁不能踩在杜克大学(Duke University)的头上？”
位于佛罗里达州里斯堡的TL Sportswear的“竞赛商品”业务已经形成一套经营体系。等到了每个周六，一场大型比赛结束1秒钟后，公司的印刷机就开始印制经过授权的T恤衫。TL Sportswear的总裁赫施菲尔德(J.R. Hirschfeld)表示，公司的“秘密”发货系统能够在第二天早上把T恤衫送到遥远的蒙大拿州。快速是至关重要的。他说，等到了周三，这批T恤衫就完了，人们开始关注下一场比赛了。
其他产品的生命周期则更长一些。在佛罗里达州达尼丁，佛罗里达州立大学(Florida State University)的球迷、幼儿园教师维基?麦克穆伦(Vicki McMullen)带著一个三维的胸针，图案是一只长矛穿透了佛罗里达大学(University of Florida)的吉祥物鳄鱼的脑袋。她说，她从不把这个胸针从外衣上摘下来。
然而，有些球迷对这些授权产品并不满意，认为它们没有充份表达愤怒之情。这就是为什么那些更低俗的未经授权的产品（比如说痛恨诺特丹大学(Notre Dame University)的人所穿的“杀死爱尔兰”球衫）反而比较流行的原因。
蒙大拿州立大学(Montana State University)的毕业生、32岁的特雷佛?利维塞(Trevor Livesay)认为，那种走上前去冲著对手破口大骂的方式是难以令人接受的。在T恤衫上应该用聪明的方法来表现。利维塞特别钟爱一件他从位于华盛顿州斯伯肯的Rival Rags买来的未授权T恤衫，上面的图案通过暗指熊在森林里的某种所作所为，嘲笑了蒙大拿大学(University of Montana)的吉祥物灰熊。
在得知球迷喜欢表达方式激烈的产品后，获得授权的批发商敦促学校观念更开放些。Memory曾经提议生产一种小雕像，让某学校的吉祥物被埋在土里至下颏，而他的对手正作势准备一脚踢掉他的脑袋。但提议被学校否决。Memory的总裁兰迪?布朗(Randy Brown)表示，在橄榄球场上有很多暴力事件，生产这种产品没什么过份的。
大学还否决了一些把雕像的脸做得太黑了的设计。Memory声称公司想出一种折衷的办法，把雕像面部做得既不黑也不白，这样就不存在嘲笑哪个种族的问题。
一家公司提议的T恤衫设计中，图像是一个小孩掉进了米诺尔印第安战士头像（佛罗里达州立大学的象征）做成的马桶里。但学校主管授权事宜的谢莉?戴(Sherri Dye)认为不妥，称部份原因就是敏感的种族问题。戴女士说，她曾经提议改用橄榄球头盔。
每种设计在遭到否决以后，必须重新经过学校的审核批准。前面提到的“巨石碾碎对手”方案得到了21所大学的授权，但球迷们只有把它举起来才能看见被压成薄饼的对手。方案的设计者之一埃德?克兰西(Ed Clancy)表示，球迷希望看到躺在底下的对手伸出手指，希望校方能批准进行这种改变。
和大多数学校比起来，南方的大学更愿意相互猛烈地贬损，只要设计中避开性、毒品和宗教亵渎就行。然而，即使是那些对暴力内容观念开放的大学管理人士也可能在看上去似乎微不足道的问题上坚持己见。Ruppshirts的拉普抱怨说，有些人不让他们使用ain't这个词，可是如果改用isn't就不好笑了。
拉普并不准备放弃。他密切关注著负责授权事宜的校方董事们的转变，重新提出新的用词。有一件为佛罗里达州立大学球迷设计的球衫，印著佛罗里达大学的徽标鳄鱼，它的背上有一条轮胎痕迹，说明文字是“大路屠杀”，但被学校否决。当拉普把文字改成“大路旅行”后，才得到了学校的批准。
北方的学校在这一问题上普遍比较审慎。俄亥俄州立大学(Ohio State University)的授权主管罗伯?克里夫兰(Rob Cleveland)表示，学校在拒绝了各种“竞赛商品”的设计提案后肯定会损失一大笔钱。在去年全国大学生橄榄球比赛期间，该校的授权政策是：决不允许学校被描述成被打败的对象。
获得俄亥俄州立大学授权的500家批发商绝对无法和提供粗劣产品的假冒者竞争。这些人在比赛当天排成一列等候在体育场外，兜售他们制作的言辞激烈的T恤衫。俄亥俄州立大学的支持者们穿的球衫这样嘲笑老对头密歇根大学(University of Michigan)：“所有动物跑过车前，我都会刹车，但狼獾除外。”（狼獾是密歇根大学的吉祥物）支持密歇根大学的人则在汽车保险杠贴条上还击：“给哥伦布的指示：能闻到臭味就是南方，能走得过去就是东方。”
“对抗商品”市场大部份还是在学校的控制之外。1999年，佛罗里达州立大学海斯曼奖候选人彼得?瓦里克(Peter Warrick)犯下轻微盗窃罪。在几天之内，位于佛罗里达州坦帕的Smack Apparel就向佛罗里达大学的球迷售出了8,000件“海斯曼奖”题材的T恤衫。Collegiate Licensing责令这家公司停止出售，但Smack仍继续印制，并坚持认为这种取笑的做法受到第一修正案的保护。这件事最终并没有诉诸法律。
