Let the NIL Begin: Wisconsin QB Graham Mertz Unveils Trademarked Logo ... that looks like someone else's logo ... a lot ....

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I know this is wrong, but there is no player I want to see fail more than him.
 

Most of these kids will LOSE money if they think they are going to sell anything related to their "playing".
 


fmlizard said:
Has any player logo ever taken off and become recognizable, except for the MJ silhouette Nike developed? Tom Brady's logo is a little hokey and not that well known. What chance does Graham Mertz have?
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Federer, Nicholas, Greg Norman, Kobe, Nadal, Lebron...
 


Hypothetical:

player X says “I’ve created a personal brand logo and am going to order some premium tshirts printed up with it, $35/each, let me know if you want one”.

Rich booster Y replies “I love that logo, and I love tshirts, give me 10 thousand!”


Is this above board? What say you all?
 

PMWinSTP said:
Federer, Nicholas, Greg Norman, Kobe, Nadal, Lebron...
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So like, a handful of some of the best non-golf sports pros … ever ….

But every above-average P5 athlete is going to have their own logo and make bank on it.

Something is not quite right.
 

Another hypothetical:

if a Gopher football Jersey with Ibrahim’s nameplate and number is sold, should he get a piece of that (taken out from the school’s cut)?


Obviously if number only, that can’t be linked to only one player.
 

MplsGopher said:
Another hypothetical:

if a Gopher football Jersey with Ibrahim’s nameplate and number is sold, should he get a piece of that (taken out from the school’s cut)?


Obviously if number only, that can’t be linked to only one player.
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I think the school would have to negotiate with the player based on the ruling.
 



PMWinSTP said:
Federer, Nicholas, Greg Norman, Kobe, Nadal, Lebron...
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I couldn't draw any of those, and other than how they are usually comprised from initials, I couldn't pick them from a lineup either. And I am in graphic design for living.

Most of those dudes get to wear their own clothes to compete, or at least don't have to wear a helmet. Mertz, I mean he won a Heisman against Illinois last year but he doesn't have the pro accomplishments of LeBron and Kobe, both of whom had their logos backed by huge Nike contracts.
 

gopherjay said:
Most of these kids will LOSE money if they think they are going to sell anything related to their "playing".
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Yes, this is true. A significant source of income for some will be derived from sponsored postings on social media. The idea will be that student athletes will be able to convert their status as an Ohio State football player or Gopher hockey player into increased numbers of followers on Instagram or Twitter or whatever. That will enable them to generate income with product placement/advertising.
 

PMWinSTP said:
Federer, Nicholas, Greg Norman, Kobe, Nadal, Lebron...
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had no idea Fed had a logo until just now.
I assume you mean Nicklaus? Ditto there
Same for Nadal.
Norman, Kobe, and Lebron I've seen
 




upnorthkid said:
had no idea Fed had a logo until just now.
I assume you mean Nicklaus? Ditto there
Same for Nadal.
Norman, Kobe, and Lebron I've seen
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Yes, Nicholas is the Golden Bear. He has marketed the Sh*t out of it.
 

This trademark business is just as bad as Joe The Plumber running for office.
 
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With Fleck creating a "Row the Boat" national brand, could players be paid to come speak at corporate events? The player is a commodity because of their name, but also because their name is connected to a leadership philosophy people are interested in hearing about.

On another note, I think PJ is developing a culture others would want to invest in. Will be interesting to see how that flows into players or would it take away from them being the focus? Will be curious how the U of M tries to interfere with this. I can't imagine the Regents will be pleased.
 

gophernut1 said:
With Fleck creating a "Row the Boat" national brand, could players be paid to come speak at corporate events? The player is a commodity because of their name, but also because their name is connected to a leadership philosophy people are interested in hearing about.

On another note, I think PJ is developing a culture others would want to invest in. Will be interesting to see how that flows into players or would it take away from them being the focus? Will be curious how the U of M tries to interfere with this. I can't imagine the Regents will be pleased.
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I think players would be able to market themselves as speakers, but I expect that having them do so under a RTB banner or supervision might be disallowed if they were doing it for profit. I don’t think the rules will permit coaches to be involved (directly) in marketing players.

Not sure what you mean by “how that flows into players,” but if you mean money, RTB raises money for the Masonic Children’s Hospital and I doubt funds would be diverted from that cause to players.
 

The Gophers as a team already have a brand. PJ Fleck made RTB synonymous with teaching players social responsibility and teamwork. This will never be monetized for the benefit of any individual players.

IMHO, players creating logos is synonymous with me first, forget about everyone else. I am afraid that there are going to be unintended effects.

This Supreme Court NCAA vs Alston ruling is similar to the 2010 Citizens United vs FEC case in its future reverberations good and bad. The Citizens United ruling effectively freed corporations and other entities to spend money on electioneering communications and to directly advocate for the election or defeat of candidates. Huge amount of money forever changed our political landscape. Super PACs have a growing influence after the court ruled that limits on corporate spending to prevent corruption was not pervasive enough to restrict political speech.

The pendulum of justice seems to swing to extremes. This is my two cents.

Money, money, money!
 
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PMWinSTP said:
I think the school would have to negotiate with the player based on the ruling.
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Maybe for every jersey sold with the name of a player emblazoned on it, the U can give the player a percentage of the sale proceeds. An alternative is to not have a player name on the uniforms like some schools already do.

There will be a lot of figuring out and sorting in the coming years.
 

Could a coach hire one of his players for whatever?
 



Legalizing robbery, you have to understand what can and cannot land you in jail. Just a little levity. :unsure:
 


SanDiegoGopherFan said:
I can not think of any college football player that I was such a fan of that I would purchase anything with that player name.

I can only see maybe that players school population maybe buy some stuff, if they are all american or heisman candidates will help, but outside of your own zip code....I don't know if enough ppl will really care to make it worthwhile to invest in your own brand in college...for football.

For basketball it could possibly be a different story. We'll see.
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Good point. I look at Tebow when he was at Florida and that's about as famous as a guy can get (forget his time in the NFL, he was dominant in college). Maybe Johnny Manziel.
 

fmlizard said:
Has any player logo ever taken off and become recognizable, except for the MJ silhouette Nike developed? Tom Brady's logo is a little hokey and not that well known. What chance does Graham Mertz have?
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I think a case could be made that Johnny Manziel doing that thing with his fingers where he rubbed them together about making money, that could have taken off with high school players wearing that underneath their jerseys.
 

SanDiegoGopherFan said:
This, I think basketball players will have a better chance at cashing in on this, simply because they can be projected to be lottery picks their senior years in high school. I think that closeness to the pro's makes them more attractive
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And they don't wear helmets, so their face is more recognizable. Outside of the QBs, how many players can you recognize just by face? Except the obvious, like Big Dan's head is probably so big, who else could it be?
 


MplsGopher said:
Hypothetical:

player X says “I’ve created a personal brand logo and am going to order some premium tshirts printed up with it, $35/each, let me know if you want one”.

Rich booster Y replies “I love that logo, and I love tshirts, give me 10 thousand!”


Is this above board? What say you all?
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Of course it's above board. It'll ruin the competiveness of college football and bring the sport downwards and make lots of fans lose interest, but it'll be permitted.
 

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