I still think the university has made no progress in getting the FAU brand out there. Perfect example: Yesterday I'm walking around the Wellington Green Mall which is located about 45 minutes north of campus. I come across a kiosk selling holiday sports item such as slippers, reefs for the holidays and santa hats. I saw items of UCF, USF, UM, UF and FSU. So I asked, "Where's all your FAU stuff" the lady at the kiosk replied "We just can't get any. The university refuses to let us sell any material with their name on it." Keep in mind THIS IS IN PALM BEACH COUNTY!! How do you not market yourself in your own region? I can see if this was in Orlando but c'mon man! I really feel like this university has no idea on how to reach put to the public.

That is Angelos doing, but I take your meaning. I think that AD Chun is trying to undo the incompetence that was in the Athletics department, so we have to give him time. I email today my frustration of the lack of marketing to the Sherry Adams who handles marketing for the university but I haven't heard anything back yet.

Owl_Ranger said

"Where's all your FAU stuff" the lady at the kiosk replied "We just can't get any. The university refuses to let us sell any material with their name on it."

I am sorry, but that lady is telling you a line.  She doesn't want to sell FAU stuff and is blaming the University.  I hold licenses with 9 Universities and could have licenses with hundreds of universities.

What she told you makes no sense. I think that is her way to politely tell you she doesn't want to sell any FAU stuff because the market is tiny in the big scheme of things so instead of saying that she made up a story.

I could provide her with stuff and she could be selling it tomorrow if she really wanted.

Yeah fauowl is 100% correct. I used to work at Lids (the hat store). I worked in Boca, and had to help out at Coral Springs and Wellington numerous times and we had FAU hats, Boca has FAU T-Shirts. I believe the Lids Locker Room in Wellington mall carries some FAU stuff as well. One of my friends is the manager of that store and I think they have FAU hats, some FAU tervis tumblers.

Just like he said, there's not a big enough market for FAU stuff so they're not going to carry it and they'll make up some B.S. line about how the school won't let them.

I have gone to the Lids and other stores (Champs?) in the Mall at Wellington Green and elsewhere. At best, they have one or two items. Most of the time, they have nothing with FAU on it.

I speak to managers, who say their corporate either can't or won't get the items, or they cost too much to license (Hear the same thing about Troy merchandise).

Sun Belt schools ought to make sure their licensing fees are tiny to increase gear to be made and sold. The fees can rise later as demand grows. I call B.S. on the "there's not enough market for FAU gear" argument. There are more FAU alumni in Palm Beach County than from any other school.

I get so sick of seeing items from SEC, Big East, Midwest and eve west coast schools all over these stores when there clearly is not a great market for them. In the meantime, tens and hundreds of thousands of FAU alumni have very little choices.

I see UCF gear and hats at BJ's in Royal Palm Beach. The same hats sit there for months or longer unsold. 'Nothing from FAU there.

Walmart and similar stores in Palm Beach County are packed with UF, FSU and even some Miami clothing and items, yet nothing from FAU.

I see Miami of Ohio "Redhawk" reusable plastic cups at Marshall's. Seriously? They can't even get 10k at their games! These items don't sell.

Somehow, some way, FAU is mismanaging its merchandise licensing or sales process.

I did find some nice reuseable FAU tumblers at Dillard's. But they're almost prohibitively expensive at something like $20 each! Good God!

The Lids which is upstairs in wellington mall won't have much. Maybe a hat or two at most. It's got nothing to do with the licensing of FAU product or it costing too much. If Lids tells you that, they're lying to you. You won't find much FAU stuff in Lids because there's no demand for it. My friend/old roommate was the manager of that location before moving downstairs to Lids Lockeroom. When he was there he told them he needs FAU stuff. They sent him some fitted hats but they sat on the shelves. He'd sell a few here or there but there's not much demand for FAU stuff up there. It's too far from the school. Yes it's in the same county but we aren't a well known school. I'm sure we have a lot of alumni in the area but even so most of our alumni are more likely to buy UM, FSU, UF stuff.

UCF and USF are more well known than we are. UCF was seemingly in the C-USA football championship every year and USF was at 1 point ranked # 2 in the country. They're also on TV a lot more than we are and have more of a tradition of winning than we do. We'll get there eventually, especially if we send people to the NFL on a regular basis. The more they talk about Morris and FAU the better it will be for us.

I think the move to CUSA will help give us more exposure too. We'll be on TV a lot more, but if you want FAU stuff in the malls and sports authority's and stuff, you have to have a winning product on the field. If all of a sudden we're wining 8-10 games a season and in the C-USA championship every year and on TV a lot and winning while on TV, it will be "cool" to wear or ask for FAU stuff.

I would try the Lids Locker room downstairs in the mall. They prob won't have a lot of stuff but worth a try. I know Boca has a bunch of FAU hats and some FAU shirts

It's the chicken and the egg. You have to get the product displayed and wait for word to get out (or, for Heaven's sake, advertise) that you carry FAU gear and it will sell - especially at this time of the year when people like me by it for loved ones.

There is a hell of a lot more demand here for AU gear than UCF gear or Miami of Ohio gear! How do you explain shirts for college thousands of miles away at these stores? I am not even talking about the top football teams here. FAU is plenty well known here in its home market. I see FAU car stickers every single day. They are potential gear buyers. But they have to see it in the stores.

As I said, I watch UCF gear sit for months and never sell at local stores. You can;t say there isn't a market throughout Pal Beach County when there are campuses in Jupiter and even the Treasure Coast. This region has tens of thousands of alumni who just need to know the stuff is available and where it can be found.

The move to CUSA will not help much if at all because the new CUSA is filled with schools equally as ignored in gear availability. TV is not going to be excited about Charlotte vs. UAB at the empty Legion Field, or FAU vs. UTSA in San Antonio any more than it was for FAU vs. Troy or MTSU.

It is not the licensing that is the problem.

It is the quantities these stores will have to purchase and the FAU fanbase is NOT there to support those numbers.

We have purchased our own equipment for a lot of products just to combat this issue.

I will give a couple of examples of some of the challenges:

1) When I started ItsOwlTime.com, I contacted Fat Head to carry some FAU products.  They wanted me to invest almost $10,000 for a minimum order.  That's absurd.  No one is going to do that I promise you.  We have our own version of wall graphics now and they are great.  No where near that knid of investment.

2) Someone contacted me a couple of weeks ago and wanted FAU mylar balloons for a party.  You see them for the Dolphins and the prominent schools in Publix, etc.  I went to a company that makes those that you see in those stores and got a quote for them to create FAU mylar balloons for us.  They wanted me to invest $8,000 for a minimum order!  Guess what?  You won't be seeing me offer any FAU mylar balloons, ever.

3) You could insert 1000 other products in the above scenarios.

It's not the conferences or the schools that drive this…it is the demand.  FAU does not have that kind of demand.

This is what drives what products we offer:  How many do I have to buy or produce?

I have a specialty online store so FAU products that you can never find anywhere else makes some sense for me.  It makes no sense for a big retailer.  They don't care about FAU.  They care about selling stuff.  Their space is valuable.  They can move product with the Big boys schools on them.  They are taking a risk by buying FAU gear.

The solution is for everyone to buy as much FAU stuff as you can and drive the demand.  I know of a great place to get some  ;D

Hope that helps to understand the issues a little.

If anyone needs to buy $8,000 worth of FAU balloons, give me a call!!!

Mark

People may not be excited (other than fans of those schools) for FAU vs. UTSA or UAB but they will be on TV on a more regular basis which is a start. If you start winning games then there's going to be a demand for your product. The problem is that lids has tried the FAU stuff in Wellington and didn't sell so they're going to be hesitant to try it again. No one wants to buy product to have it sit on a shelf. If there's a lot of hats for Miami of Ohio and not just 1, then I have no idea.

If I were FAU, I would tell Barnes & Noble if they want exclusive rights to sell on campus, which prevents someone like Mark from selling his stuff, than we want our stuff at your bookstore across the street, and not on some narrow wooden shelf hidden in the corner which no one can see. If they have an issue with it, then I find someone else to run my bookstore or tell them they don't have exclusive rights anymore

Jab979 said

People may not be excited (other than fans of those schools) for FAU vs. UTSA or UAB but they will be on TV on a more regular basis which is a start. If you start winning games then there's going to be a demand for your product. The problem is that lids has tried the FAU stuff in Wellington and didn't sell so they're going to be hesitant to try it again. No one wants to buy product to have it sit on a shelf. If there's a lot of hats for Miami of Ohio and not just 1, then I have no idea.

If I were FAU, I would tell Barnes & Noble if they want exclusive rights to sell on campus, which prevents someone like Mark from selling his stuff, than we want our stuff at your bookstore across the street, and not on some narrow wooden shelf hidden in the corner which no one can see. If they have an issue with it, then I find someone else to run my bookstore or tell them they don't have exclusive rights anymore

The only problem with that logic is B&N I believe has 2 separate companies one that handles University Book Stores "Barnes & Noble College Booksellers" and the other is their regular stores "Barnes & Nobel" and are run separately.