By Glenn S. Demby, Esq.
Like the other major pro sports leagues, Major League Baseball is getting better at making hay on hot market sales of licensed merchandise commemorating special events. These opportunities must be seized quickly while fan emotions are still ripe.
MLB’s biggest hot markets are the post-season and mid-season All Star Game which, since 2003, has determined home field advantage in the World Series. All of these events are occasions to roll out specially licensed products. Wandering through the streets of Chicago this October, it was impossible to go two blocks without seeing Cubs playoff shirts, caps, flags, etc. As a team advances, so does the product selection. And for those lucky enough to be fans of the World Series winner, commemorative caps, t-shirts, sweatshirts and other gear are an absolute must.
In addition to the perennials, every four years, MLB holds its version of soccer’s World Cup, the World Baseball Classic in which teams made up of big leaguers representing 16 countries compete for world baseball supremacy.
MLB hot markets also include unscheduled accomplishments, like a pitcher’s perfect game. Although many MLB licensees like New Era and VF/Majestic are getting good at cranking out merchandise for these occasions, hot markets that are unscheduled are harder to time.
Accordingly, some of the best personal accomplishment hot markets for licensing are the ones people know are coming, like Cal Ripken’s eclipsing of Lou Gehrig’s epic games played streak. In 2014, the New York Yankees and, to a lesser extent, MLB, benefitted from what may have been the biggest and most successful personal accomplishment hot market of all time in the retirement of Yankee legend Derek Jeter. What could have been, and some would argue should have been, a one-weekend celebration was transformed into a season-long farewell tour that generated millions in merchandising sales mostly but not exclusively in the New York market.
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