Row The Boat?

Submitted by Yung Geezer on

So according to this Rovell tweet, P.J. Fleck has shelled out 50K for "Row The Boat".  I'm curious what the WMU Broncos think about this...all of that gear is pretty much useless now, right?  I suggest a LeBron/Cleveland type apparel burning in the streets.  Fire up Broncos

BREAKING: P.J. Fleck & Western Michigan have reached a deal to transfer the "Row The Boat" trademark rights to Fleck. Will cost $50,000.

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) February 15, 2017
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ROW THE BOAT
P.J. Fleck

uferfan

February 15th, 2017 at 11:20 AM ^

I mean, couldn't he come up with something else? Patrick Star from Spongebob got huge business for the Chum Bucket by coming up with the phrase "Chum is Fum". When that stopped working, he changed it to "Fum is Chum" and business was booming again

If he can do it, I'm sure P.J. can too. Bow the Roat or Boat the Row? Sounds like a winner.....

 

Joined: 02/04/2015

MGoPoints: 24594

UMProud

February 15th, 2017 at 11:26 AM ^

What he came up with was talked about on national media for a while...some value there. WMU performance this segue has yielded a nice paycheck for the guy. I don't blame him for wanting to bolt it to his person. Also I think he was generous with the 50k offer as I'm not sure WMU was entitled to a dime really. I think Fleck is a scrupulous person who wants to avoid the perception of impropriety...a rare trait with public figures in this day and age.

Joined: 12/18/2014

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Ty Butterfield

February 15th, 2017 at 11:22 AM ^

Probably won't get this far but with all the shit going down at Staee I am glad Fleck just took a bigger job and is most likely not in play if they would need to hire a coach.

Joined: 09/07/2009

MGoPoints: -81685

Two Hearted Ale

February 15th, 2017 at 11:25 AM ^

Fleck used Row the Boat to make WMU relevant. I have no I'll will toward him. I also have no apparel with "Row the Boat" on it but that's because I'm old and prefer Brown and Gold WMU stuff which is hard to come by these days. Lester played when the colors were Brown and Gold so maybe he'll bring it back.

Joined: 06/10/2011

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rainingmaize

February 15th, 2017 at 11:39 AM ^

I have some experience with collegiate licensing. Even with this seaon, Western most likely only generates a few hundred thousand in royalties from all apparel and non apparel sales. To give you an idea, a Big 12 school that I worked at only generated slightly above $50k in jersey sales each year.

Granted I don't know how much revenue came from items that had "Row the Boat" on them, but I'm willing to bet that those sales didn't happen because of Row the Boat; i.e. a fan that bought a Row the Boat item would have still bought a Western item if Row the Boat wasn't a thing. I'm willing to bet the strategy from Western was that this was the time to capitilize off of Row the Boat and get money from Minnesota before he came up with a new catchy slogan that caught on. If you held onto it, you pose the risk that Row the Boat grows old as the team doesn't do as well, and you miss out on the chance to get money from Minnesota. In addition, they could come up with a new slogan which means die hard fans have to buy the new apparel with the new slogan (yes, even Western has die hard fans).  

Joined: 04/13/2010

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UM Fan from Sydney

February 15th, 2017 at 11:54 AM ^

I think it's pretty stupid, but that is just me.

 

EDIT: Never mind. I just learned (from someone in this thread) that it has something to do with one of his kids. Now that I know that, it's not stupid. He should definitely have the rights to it.

Joined: 09/17/2015

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A Lot of Milk

February 15th, 2017 at 11:58 AM ^

Remember the time Harbaugh and Beilein bitched about Jemele Hill making a complete ass of herself everytime she rants that Michigan will never beat Sparty again and that it was God's will we lost in 2015? Oh, you don't? Then grow the fuck up Izzo

Joined: 02/17/2013

MGoPoints: 48805

Alumnus93

February 15th, 2017 at 1:09 PM ^

Western has one chance to hold the line here... otherwise I'm afraid they will drift away in two years. I hope their new coach can keep it up because I like their uniforms and the way they played, and seeing another Michigan team on the stage. Plus they seem to be UofM friendly and a threat to msu

Joined: 09/10/2009

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uofmchris

February 15th, 2017 at 1:25 PM ^

Row the boat, PJ. Row the boat. With the millions of dollars you now make.

Screw those WMU players that bought into that saying.......  /s

Image result for money boat gif

Joined: 01/13/2013

MGoPoints: 2058

Perkis-Size Me

February 15th, 2017 at 1:31 PM ^

Would WMU students, fans, alums, or whomever else even care enough to have a "LeBron/Cleveland type apparel burning in the streets?"

Fleck could've stayed there 10 more years if he wanted. It's still Western Michigan. They're never going to win a national championship, they're not going to lure in the elite recruits that would've been needed to get them there. If they ever even wanted to SNIFF being in that conversation, they would've had to play UM and OSU in the same year, when they were both at least top-10 teams, beat both of them, and then win the rest of their games by 40-50 points each. And even that might not have been enough. 

I'm sure people were excited with a 13-1 season this year, and they had good reason to be. But at the end of the day, did they really, truly care? Anyone with a functioning brain at WMU had to know Fleck was going to leave sooner or later. I'm betting most folks at WMU are UM or MSU fans first, and WMU is one of those "If they win, great. If not, I don't care." type of deals. 

Joined: 11/30/2011

MGoPoints: 106139

umichshea

February 15th, 2017 at 3:36 PM ^

So this makes you an expert? You see more UM/MSU gear? Maybe WMU has less of a Walmart population. /s

I'll preface my comments with full disclosure that I'm an alumnus of both. I'm also a UM football season ticket holder who attends WMU athletics when I can (I live in SE MI now).

People care but they've been let down by the athletic department for many years. Do you think if WMU would have been willing to invest $2mil in a coach and money in facilities earlier than the Fleck era it is possible there would be more passion? I'm guessing you are a Central grad (to the dude acting like WMU is Kzoo Central HS).

Additionally, I'm not sure how the threat of winning a National Championship defines that a program matters or that its fans can care. If that were the case we better shut down MGoBlog. 1 title in 79 years doesn't really distinguish UM from WMU (yes there is a significant difference despite this stupid stipulation by the poster).

Question...f you are a hockey fan would you rather be WMU or UM in the near future? (For those not tracking at home WMU is Top 10 while UM is painfully awful.) Point being...things can change in college sports but it has to start with a committed administration.

WMU has the donors and alumni to field a very competitive athletic department. Many would like to see a continued commitment to what has apparently started the last few years. Baseball, football, hockey, women's sports are on the rise.

Joined: 11/11/2014

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Cruzcontrol75

February 15th, 2017 at 3:09 PM ^

As a Western alum I'm grateful that Fleck brought the program to where it is. Some people on the WMU football blog are still butt hurt that he left and took 9 recruits to Minn with him. I don't begrudge him for taking the job or the recruits that he put years of recruiting with him. I think it's a good deal for the School which had rights to it for the purposes of the program while he was there. And Fleck has always been about giving back since he got to Kzoo. And it wouldn't fit to continue to use his mantra after he was gone. He adopted the message as a way of moving forward from the loss of his son to continue to inspire and motivate others to excel and give back. I will still proudly wear my 13-0 RTB MAC championship shirt. But it's in the past with Hammer Time, Bad Boys, Stanley cup Wings shirts and Wolverines championship gear. On to the future, shock the world by beating USC in SoCal then take out Sparty in EL.

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Honk if Ufer M…

February 15th, 2017 at 9:05 PM ^

Toss The Cap! Throw The Hat! Fling The Beret! Flip Your Lid!                                                        Don't hesitate, pick one of those catchy catch phrases and Gopher it!

mary tyler moore hat animated GIF

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