Larry Brown Sports

Robert Griffin III is already more than a household name, and if all goes to plan for the Redskins he’s going to be an NFL superstar. As we know, these things don’t always turn out the way teams hope they will. But Griffin isn’t taking any chances. If and when he becomes a celebrity athlete, nobody is going to be making money off RG3′s name without permission.

According to ChangeLegal.com, Griffin hired an attorney after he declared for the NFL Draft and has since created a company called Thr3escompany, LLC. He has submitted applications to the United States Patent and Trademark Office for four trademarks, three of which involve his name and one which is a phrase. Griffin has applied for patents on the name Robert Griffin III as well as the abbreviations RG3 and RGIII. He is also trademarking the phrase “Unbelievably Believable.” As ChangeLegal.com reminded us, Griffin described the moment he received the Heisman Trophy as “unbelievably believable.”

Griffin has trademarked the three names with the intention of selling merchandise while the phrase is intended for “promoting the goods and services of others, sponsorship of sports and athletic events and activities.” There’s no word yet on whether or not he plans to trademark the act of wearing childish socks to adult events.

While RG3 will probably take a lot of heat for the trademarks — especially the phrase “unbelievably believable” — it’s a smart business move on his part.  As we learned with Tim Tebow and the Tebowing website as well as Jeremy Lin with the California weed shops, trademarking your name ahead of time isn’t necessarily a bad idea.

H/T WUSA 9 in Washington, D.C.
Photo credit: Paul Frederiksen-US PRESSWIRE

The handful of remaining Bobcats fans in the world currently have their fingers crossed that the team earns the No. 1 pick in the upcoming NBA draft lottery. Charlotte has not won a playoff game in its eight-year existence, but a player like Kentucky’s Anthony Davis could give fans hope for the future. It could also make season tickets overwhelmingly affordable.

By overwhelmingly affordable, we mean dirt cheap. According to the Charlotte Observer, the Bobcats recently announced that they will be offering extreme discounts on about 500 upper-deck season tickets this season, with prices that could be as low as $43 per seat — for the entire season. The program, which is called “Pay the Pick,” will make the price of a ticket equal to the position the Bobcats earn in the draft lottery later this month. Charlotte has a 25 percent chance of earning the No. 1 overall pick, and if they do the specially-priced seats will cost $1 per game. They are guaranteed the No. 4 pick or higher, meaning the 500 seats will be priced no higher than $4 per game or $172 for the season.

And I thought student season tickets were cheap when I attended UConn. The Bobcats ranked 25th out of 30 teams in average attendance last season, so selling tickets has obviously been a major issue. When you consistently put a poor product on the court, that will happen. Apparently the Bobcats are not the first team to run this promotion. The Timberwolves did it for several years starting with the 2008-2009 season, but they never earned the top overall pick. Hopefully for the fans of Charlotte, this promotion isn’t accompanied by some sort of curse.

H/T Sports Illustrated’s FanNation
Photo credit: Sam Sharpe-US PRESSWIRE

When we think about the secondary ticket market for professional sports, the thought of paying way over face value typically comes to mind. That is not always the case. Websites like StubHub provide ticket holders and those interested in buying tickets an opportunity to essentially set their own market. That model has reportedly been creating a problem for the Yankees ticket department.

According to the NY Post, the Yankees are tired of seeing tickets pop up on StubHub at significantly lower prices than their box office charges. Over the past few seasons, unwanted Yankee Stadium seats have been going for as low as a few dollars each. More than 7,000 tickets are currently listed on StubHub for New York’s game against the Orioles next Monday, with prices starting at just $3.00 a seat. The Yankees box office does not currently offer any tickets for les than $15.20.

StubHub has a contract with the MLB that expires after this season, and the Yankees and a few other clubs would reportedly like to see the eBay-owned company put a price floor on certain tickets. The main philosophy of StubHub is to let the marketplace set the price, and that is apparently not sitting well with the Yankees.

One of the main issues the Yankees have with StubHub seems to be the effect it could have on renewed ticket license plans. With prices for certain seats available at a discount on StubHub, many fans would rather take it game-by-game and settle for the convenience of StubHub when they want to catch a game rather than ordering a season ticket package. Others may be concerned that they will not get enough return when they choose to sell certain games from the season ticket plan.

I think I speak for everyone when I say the following: Stop crying, New York. You have more money than you know what to do with.

H/T Hardball Talk
Photo credit: The Star-Ledger-US PRESSWIRE

The Pistons may be on their way to missing the playoffs for a third straight season, but at least their marketing department is thinking outside the box. With four straight losing seasons — one of which included being swept in the first round of the playoffs — the Pistons have to really work to get season ticket holders to renew. They may be onto something with their new, microchip-infused team jackets.

According to CBS Detroit, fans who renew their season tickets for the 2012-2013 season will be receiving an authentic on-court team jacket with a microchip embedded in the sleeve. The jackets can be used to receive 20 percent off food and beverage items and 30 percent off merchandise at The Palace. Genius.

If you thought the Spurs ticket card was top-of-the-line season ticket technology, this has it beat. Not only are the discounts for season ticket holders great, but this forces fans to wear team apparel. If you want discounts on food and merchandise while at The Palace, you’ll be rocking your Pistons jacket every time there’s a home game.

H/T to The Hoop Doctors via Michele Steele on Twitter

If the Jets’ goal in bringing Tim Tebow on board was to boost merchandise sales, their owner certainly isn’t going to admit it. We all know Tebow has the Midas touch. Since the Jets announced the trade, No. 15 jerseys have been flying off the shelves. We don’t need a sports business investigation launched around the New York/New Jersey area to reveal that. Jets owner Woody Johnson would like us to believe otherwise. When asked if merchandise sales have spiked since New York landed the NFL’s most popular player, Johnson played dumb.

“Not really,” he said according to Newsday. “Jerseys aren’t really our main line of business. Our main line of business is winning games. I expect if we do well, we will continue to sell. We’re pretty well sold out on PSLs despite what you read about.”

The Jets have a pretty rabid fan base and have gained popularity since Rex Ryan came aboard, so I’m buying the part about Gang Green already having been all set with their PSLs. However, there’s no way Tebow hasn’t given jersey sales a little boost. Anytime you make a big splash via free agency or a trade, jersey sales increase — let alone when that big splash is someone that is believed to win games with the help of divine intervention.

New York may have acquired Tebow with football motives, but there’s no way they haven’t been reaping the benefits of his popularity. It’s okay, Woody — we aren’t mad at you.

Photo credit: Ed Mulholland-US PRESSWIRE

Michael Jordan is a business man, and losing money is not part of his business plan. That’s why he’s reportedly planning to sell the Bobcats if they don’t improve to the point they’re profitable.

“I told Rich (Cho) to make us better,” Jordan told one associate recently, according to the New York Daily News. “If that doesn’t work and I can’t make a profit in the next three to four years, then I’m selling,” he reportedly said.

MJ reportedly told GM Rich Cho to prepare for another rebuilding season and that the pressure is on to build a winner. The team apparently lost $20 million last season and stands to lose even more money during this season’s disastrous 7-43 campaign.

Jordan’s Bobcats have gone downhill quickly since making the playoffs for the first time in franchise history two seasons ago. Even Charles Barkley criticized MJ as an owner. But if Charlotte lands the top overall pick in the NBA lottery, the rebuilding process would begin with Kentucky forward Anthony Davis. If they hit home runs in two straight drafts, they’ll be in business. They’ll have to otherwise it sounds like MJ is out.

Photo Credit: Sam Sharpe-US PRESSWIRE

Since becoming the biggest sports story of the year a little over a month ago, Jeremy Lin has done his best to suck up as little of the spotlight as possible. Of course, keeping out of the spotlight has been completely impossible. When your grandmother can’t even avoid the paparazzi, you just have to accept that you are kind of a big deal. What we mean is Lin hasn’t gone around signing every endorsement deal that is presented to him — and there have been plenty of them. According to Bloomberg, however, the Knicks guard could finally have something in the works.

Jeremy Lin, the New York Knicks basketball player who surged in popularity this year, is in talks on an endorsement deal with Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co (GEELZ)’s Volvo Cars, three people familiar with the matter said.

An agreement may be announced soon and would result in the 23-year-old former Harvard University player endorsing Volvo cars in China, two of the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private. The two sides are in advanced negotiations after having reached a preliminary agreement, they said.

To this point, the only significant contract Lin has signed is an extension of his 2010 contract with Nike, which will naturally pay him a boatload more than the initial contract he signed when he was with the Warriors. Aside from that, Jeremy has turned down several offers and refused to sign any deals with flashy companies just for the money. Either Lin is a big Volvo guy, or it sounds like he may have finally been presented with an offer he can’t refuse.

When people learned the Clippers had asked their most notable fan, Darrell Bailey, to drop “Clipper” from his nickname, there was a great deal of outrage. We felt the Clippers were cutting down one of their greatest supporters because now that they’re winning and successful, they feel they can speak out. The Clippers issued a statement accusing Darrell of not actually being a fan of the the team, “but a fan of what he can make off of the Clippers.” Their position was defended much better in an LA Times piece by Bill Plaschke.

Plaschke depicts Darrell as a guy trying to profit off the Clippers and says the team offered him a chance to be paid and treated like an official team cheerleader. The team wants to control what he gets paid, the appearances he makes, and what he says about the team, because they feel he is profiting off of them.

There is some merit to their argument, and they have a right to ask him to go by Darrell Bailey rather than “Clipper Darrell.” But I don’t believe they have a right to control his messages about the team and the money he makes.

Darrell has become well known because he is a great hype guy. Whether he was a fan of the Clippers, Lakers, Bucks, or Celtics is inconsequential — people love him because he makes games exciting. He acquired the “Clipper Darrell” name out of association. You need a nickname for “the guy at the Clippers games with the funny suit who’s always yelling,” so he became Clipper Darrell.

If people want him to attend their wedding, Bar Mitzvah, or game, it’s because he makes events exciting. He became known through the Clippers, but not because of them.

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The Knicks aren’t the only ones reaping the benefits from the Jeremy Lin hype. In a recent interview on SportsBiz Game On, Lin’s agent Roger Montgomery discussed how his business has changed for the better thanks to his client’s new-found stardom.

“With this and the way it’s transpiring, I’m definitely going to have to grow,” Montgomery said. “I, already before this, had been looking at ways to build a better infrastructure. I think our infrastructure is good, but I want to build a better infrastructure. With Jeremy, I know I’m going to have to have things in place that I can put my hands on that I didn’t have before. So whether that’s in house or whether that’s a consultant, it’s something we’re going to look at doing.

“As far as our company is concerned about now, they’ve been talking about MSG and how stocks have been boosting, it’s the same thing about Montgomery Sports Group. We’re going to be looking at opportunities, we’re going to be reviewing those things, and I’m definitely over the next few weeks going to be ramping up interviews and things like that to figure out where we want to go.”

Montgomery pretty much won the lottery when Lin’s popularity shot through the Garden’s roof. Brands want Lin’s name (for better and worse). Women want to be with him. It’s only wise for Montgomery to strike while the iron is hot. Who knows how much longer Linsanity will have the spotlight? Thursday night’s eight-point, eight-turnover game against the Heat reminds us Lin is mortal after all.

If you’re interested in watching the entire interview, here’s video via Pro Basketball Talk. The part above comes around the two-minute mark:

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There are the one-percenters, and then there’s Derrick Rose, who is now probably part of the 0.5 percent after the absurd shoe deal he reportedly signed with adidas on Friday.

According to Yahoo! Sports, the reigning NBA MVP reportedly inked a 13-year, $185 million endorsement deal with the sports apparel giant. Additional incentives supposedly could push the deal beyond the $200 million mark. Rose, whose signature shoe is the “adiZero Rose,” has been with adidas since entering the league in 2008 (you may have seen some of his overhyped commercials).

The agreement is the second-biggest shoe deal in history, so says CNBC’s Darren Rovell, right behind, you guessed it, Michael Jordan’s arrangement with Nike. (And with a deal so big, it’s no wonder why adidas allegedly wants to have a say in where its superstars play.)

Just on the shoe deal alone, Rose, 23, is pretty much set for life. But prior to this season, he also signed a five-year, $94.8 million extension with the Bulls, otherwise known as 0.51 adidas contracts. All said, that’s upwards of $280 million destined for Rose’s bank account.

For those of you keeping score at home, Rose isn’t rich; He’s stinkin’ rich. Feel free to curl up in a corner and weep.

Photo credit: Derick E. Hingle, US Presswire