Row The Boat?
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
February 15th, 2017 at 11:38 AM ^
February 15th, 2017 at 11:51 AM ^
How bow dah?
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.....
February 15th, 2017 at 11:26 AM ^
February 15th, 2017 at 11:41 AM ^
Pretty certain that someone verified in another thread that the trademark was owned by WMU and not Fleck.
February 15th, 2017 at 12:23 PM ^
but it was Fleck who started the RTB slogan because it is his idea.
February 15th, 2017 at 11:22 AM ^
February 15th, 2017 at 11:24 AM ^
If you are P.J. Playing for Minnesota, I would feel like a jaded lover. You can't let go of the past!
Plus, you don't need silly gimmicks to sell results.
February 15th, 2017 at 11:25 AM ^
February 15th, 2017 at 11:34 AM ^
February 15th, 2017 at 12:16 PM ^
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).
February 15th, 2017 at 11:41 AM ^
now is using a trademarked slogan that was developed by a MAC program that they have paid for. Gophers don't row.
I prefer "Dig the Gopher".
February 15th, 2017 at 11:41 AM ^
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.
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
February 15th, 2017 at 12:31 PM ^
psst. wrong thread bro.
February 15th, 2017 at 12:36 PM ^
Well that escalated quickly... you may be in the wrong thread.
February 15th, 2017 at 12:38 PM ^
February 15th, 2017 at 12:09 PM ^
February 15th, 2017 at 12:14 PM ^
February 15th, 2017 at 12:17 PM ^
February 15th, 2017 at 12:19 PM ^
I would just name it......."Start the fucking motor"
February 15th, 2017 at 12:23 PM ^
"life is but a dream"
I would love it to get everyone in the big house singing " row, row, row your boat gently down the stream.." when MN comes to town with Fleck.
February 15th, 2017 at 1:09 PM ^
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
February 15th, 2017 at 1:29 PM ^
I thought it'd be way higher than that. WMU should have demanded more.
February 15th, 2017 at 1:31 PM ^
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.
February 15th, 2017 at 2:23 PM ^
and yes, most people don't care so much and are really MSU/UM fans. I see 10X more MSU/UM gear than Western gear.
I mean, sure, some do care about Western more than other teams. Most don't.
February 15th, 2017 at 3:36 PM ^
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.
February 15th, 2017 at 4:15 PM ^
February 15th, 2017 at 3:09 PM ^
February 15th, 2017 at 9:01 PM ^
February 15th, 2017 at 5:04 PM ^
I'm all in if Richard Simmons is there.
February 15th, 2017 at 5:58 PM ^
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!
February 16th, 2017 at 12:08 AM ^
No, Western shouldn't burn it. Send it over to EL. People say that folks there like to burn things.