New NFL-logoed merchandise: talking pizza cutters; forest faces
Do you really need a New Orleans Saints pizza cutter that plays When the Saints Go Marching In? How about that Indianapolis Colts figurine soap dispenser? A super ball that plays the Monday Night Football theme song when bounced?
Or Footjoy’s new line of golf shoes – with or without spikes – in NFL team colors with logos that you can even print your name on? That’ll cost you $155 to $200 a pair, starting in April.
NFL licensees certainly hope so. The NFL Hardlines VI Trade Show – featuring 86 NFL licensees showing off hundreds of non-apparel items at Dolphin Stadium Tuesday – was a football fan’s smorgasbord of items you never knew you needed. But it was just for the industry, so the league and its 32 teams can pick out items to sell at stadiums, outfit suites and give as season ticket renewal gifts this year.
Talk about creative: Dolphins recliners complete with cup holders; Dolphins pool tables, bar stools and Tiffany lamps. A computer mouse. A collapsible table with four chairs attached that pops open easily for your tailgate. Candles and air fresheners. Sippy cups with little team mascots on top.
And even Forest Faces with team caps. That’s right – those resin faces that you nail into a tree will begin coming out with NFL team caps come May 1 for $19.95. “You animate the tree,” says Mike Sockel, senior vice president of Team Sports America, which makes the NFL Forest Face.
The show started six years ago in Green Bay as a way to showcase innovative products. Previously the NFL had been attending sports industry-wide shows that either disbanded or were held during football season when many officials couldn’t attend, said Leo Kane, league vice president of consumer products.
“We decided we wanted to control the message as well,” Kane said. “We talk about the NFL and our 32 clubs, as opposed to other sports. As important to us is that we see the new product and it’s important that all our licensing partners know where we’re going with Super Bowl logos and season-long themes.”
Of particular interest this year, Kane said, are women’s and children’s products. But there’s something for everyone, he said.
“Hopefully there’s something new in every booth,” he said. “New product innovation is really the lifeblood. We want all of our licensees, new and existing, to reinvent themselves every year, because that’s what the fans have come to expect from us. If you build it they will come.”




Comments
How do we get contact Leo Kane to present a new item for a product? No one at NFL.com will discuss licensing. Please help. We have a new product that no ones has made.
I can be contacted by email or my cell number 214-693-4694.
Thanks,
Bob Brewer
JRB International
President
Posted by: Bob Brewer | June 12, 2008 10:03 AM