Big bucks for Bama: Championship merchandise rakes in millions

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - It's a treasure for Alabama - that crystal football the Crimson Tide won in December's BCS Championship. That victory pumped millions of dollars into the Alabama athletic department as well as the Southeastern Conference. But they aren't the only ones benefiting.

Does a rising Crimson Tide lift all boats? It sure looks that way. Despite the down economy, the University of Alabama is enjoying its strongest year ever when it comes to sales of license merchandise.

You can’t go very far without seeing a reminder of the Tide’s special season on everything from t-shirts to fine crystal and jewelry.

As the Alabama Crimson Tide marched to their first national championship in 17 years, retailers that selling souvenirs were marching toward their best sales in history.

Chris Stewart, Marketing Director for Bama Fever said, “It has created opportunities that we wouldn't have otherwise and we're clearly seeing that in the bottom line.”

Stewart said sales numbers for March aren’t in yet, but in January and February the chain saw an explosion in sales. Bama Fever sales for those months rose 900% over last year.

Stewart said, “You can't forecast a 900% increase, but we got a taste for it the day after Alabama won the SEC Championship.”

On that December day, the 25 year old Galleria store set a sales record 35% higher than any other Sunday in history. Steward said, “When we saw those numbers, we knew that if it happened for the national championship, it would go through the roof.”

As the final seconds ticked off the Rose Bowl clock, fans swarmed to retailers big and small to get championship merchandise. At Alabama Express on the Tuscaloosa strip, store owner David Jones thought he had enough t-shirts to last at least 12 hours. It wasn’t even close.

Jones said, “At 2:00 p.m. we sold everything that we had that was national championship related and closed the doors. We came back at 7:00 a.m. and started receiving shipments.”

Alabama Express has been in business for nearly two decades. The company is enjoying its best November, December, January and February sales months ever.

Jones said, “Beating Florida, things just spiked immediately and we had a hard time getting everything out in time for Christmas.”

Alabama Express is on track for a record March too. And Jones' other store, The Alabama Bookstore and its affiliated website www.bamastuff.com are also doing strong business, riding a wave of success created by the Crimson Tide.

Jones said, “There's very few places in the country that can compare with our fan base and how we feel about our team.”

The statistics prove it. According to the firm that licenses merchandise for scores of universities, the University of Alabama is second in the nation in total sales this fiscal year. The University of Texas is first.

Collegiate Licensing Company Vice President Joe Hutchinson said, “We have seen in the last five years, we've seen some of the best years in our company and the best years of the licensing business and collegiate licensing specifically.”

Alabama is bucking a national trend: College licensing royalties dipped from $4.2 billion to $4 billion in 2009. But Alabama had its best merchandising year ever. Now following the football championship, things promise to be even better.

Hutchinson said, “They've already surpassed that total this year, and expect more revenues from the national championship to flow in here over the next several months.”

Credit can go to Head Coach Nick Saban for some of the financial success. The Crimson Tide has generated 46% more merchandising royalties since he became coach in early 2007.

Some schools have noted an increase in enrollment applications following a national title win, but it's too early to see if that will happen at the capstone.

Regardless, Hutchinson said the exposure is priceless. “Any time an institution wins a national championship, it really gives a program an opportunity to expand and grow to the next level from a licensing and exposure standpoint and a product merchandise standpoint.”

For businesses which rely on the university to make their money, the football team's BCS win couldn't have come at a better time. While championship gear sales are slowing down a little, it's not clear how long merchants can ride this wave of Crimson Tide success. But store owners hope it’s not any time soon.

So just how much money does Alabama make per year in merchandise royalties? Neither CLC nor the university athletic department would say. But you can definitely count Alabama among the top 30 schools which make at least a million dollars a year. It's been reported the football team's total revenue for 2008 was $64.5 million.