University merchandise is typically purple and gold, but the most important color associated with licensed Tiger products may be green — like the dollar signs that come with merchandising sales.The ubiquity of LSU-related products is an excellent indicator of the University’s power as a merchandising brand. There are 681 national licensees who use the University’s trademarks, according to Brian Hommel, director of finance and administrative services.Those manufacturers, along with the legions of Tiger fans hungry for merchandise, have driven the University to the No. 4 spot on the Collegiate Licensing Company’s list of highest-grossing schools for merchandising. The rank, held by the University since 2007, is the highest it has achieved.CLC’s highest-grossing school is the University of Texas at Austin, followed by the University of Florida, the University of Georgia and LSU.Licensing brings in big bucks for the University — to the tune of $29.1 million in royalties since 1981, according to LSU Trademark Licensing. But that figure is a small amount of the money official licensed products have brought in.The University receives a 10 percent royalty rate on the wholesale price — the price paid to a manufacturer by a store to sell a product — of all licensed merchandise, Hommel said.”If a company sells a product for $10 to a store, LSU gets 10 percent, or $1,” he said.Those products are then marked up to retail price and sold to consumers, which means the amount actually made by retailers is much more than the $29.1 million made by the University.The University had its highest single-year licensing income in the 2007-08 fiscal year, when the Tigers won the BCS National Championship, raking in $5,301,735 in royalties — a 76 percent jump from the year before. In 2008-09, royalties decreased slightly, totaling $5,120,047.”Last year, as the season went along, there was less buying,” said Mark Ewing, senior associate athletic director over business. “The excitement wasn’t there.”Royalty income is divided in half between the University’s general fund and the Athletic Department, Hommel said.”Since we split it 50/50, the University benefits as much as [the Athletic Department],” Ewing said. “It helps the University because it’s money they weren’t expecting. It’s like a windfall — you can’t budget it exactly because you don’t know what the numbers will be.”The LSU SportShop, a gift center located next to Mike the Tiger’s habitat, also boosts the Athletic Department’s merchandising revenue. After paying overhead costs and royalty fees — some of which comes back to athletics — the Athletic Department keeps 100 percent of the profits on SportShop sales, Ewing said.”We count on [the SportShop] being a significant money maker for us,” said Herb Vincent, associate vice chancellor of athletics. “We wouldn’t operate it unless it would bring in significant revenue.”And it has. Ewing said the SportShop’s sales totaled $115,000 in July and $128,000 in August. With the start of football season in September, sales spiked to $251,000.Vincent said the Athletic Department’s money received from royalty fees and SportShop profits goes back into athletic programs.”It goes into the general fund of the Athletic Department, as do ticket sales and radio and television money, and the budget determines how that’s spent,” Vincent said. “It’s used for things like salaries, operations and travel.”With official licensed University products doing such big business, licensing guidelines are strict and strongly enforced, said Tyler Stinnett, university services representative for CLC.”Brand protection is the backbone of any licensing program, and that is definitely the case for LSU,” Stinnett said.University logos and trademarks are federally registered, which means manufacturers must maintain a license to use them on any products they create.Use of the letters “LSU” requires a license, whether they appear in the signature “Geaux” font or any other typeface. Terms commonly associated with the University, including “Geaux Tigers,” “Tiger Bait” and “Bayou Bengals” are also registered, Hommel said.The University has worked with CLC since 1991 to keep the licensing process efficient, Stinnett said.When a merchant seeks to use LSU trademarks on a product, information must be submitted to CLC, including the company’s background and details about the potential product. That information is passed to the University, where a decision is made about whether the product is appropriate to bear an LSU trademark.Standard rules exist that eliminate a product from consideration. For example, jerseys bearing players’ names are not produced. Poker chips are also not licensed because the University does not endorse gambling, Hommel said.The biggest concern is usually whether a design is appropriate, Hommel said. He said he has turned down various ideas he felt would give the LSU trademarks a negative image.”There was a pseudo-hat that was actually a jockstrap with a visor on it that said ‘LSU Supporter,'” Hommel said. “We chose not to license that one.”Other rejected ideas include a pile of faux feces in a box that read “Tiger Peaux” and a toilet that played the fight song when it was flushed.Another part of brand protection is combating unlicensed merchandise. CLC employs three attorneys to work with universities in fighting illegal products.”[The attorneys] help manage our cease and desist program, auditing program and trademark enforcement in general,” Stinnett said.Both CLC and LSU Trademark Licensing send out teams to check products for appropriate tags and holograms indicating a merchandising license. Hommel estimated 1,000 to 1,500 pieces of unlicensed merchandise are confiscated each year.Merchandisers who violate licensing regulations pay a fine — typically $500 for apparel and $250 for non-apparel items. Hommel said those fines may vary depending on the “egregiousness of infringement,” but the Trademark Licensing office tries to be consistent.The University filed a lawsuit in 2004 against Smack Apparel, a company producing merchandise with clear associations to LSU, like the school colors and game scores, but without using officially trademarked logos.Hommel said the important outcome of that case was the declaration that colors can be an “identifier” of the University, but there must be a “plus one,” or another identifier, to require a license.That is why Budweiser’s purple and gold “fan cans” were legal, Hommel said.”The cans were our colors, but that’s all,” he said. “We don’t own purple and gold. We won’t make the Lakers or Minnesota Vikings stop using it.”Vincent said the most important thing is the good it does for the University, both financially and otherwise.”People buy merchandise and travel to all parts of the country with LSU hats and shirts, and it’s good for the Athletic Department and great for the University,” he said. “More revenue means more positive exposure.”—-Contact Ryan Buxton at [email protected]