How Oregon grew from an also-ran to a merchandising giant, plus other business news about the big game.
BY JACOB PALMER | OB DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
The buzz about Monday’s national championship matchup between the University of Oregon and Ohio State University has turned into a roar in the runup to the game.
ESPN wrote a lengthy examination about Oregon’s growth as a brand Friday that found that the university’s rise has been fast-moving and especially lucrative with younger consumers.
Making Oregon cool didn’t happen organically. In 1996, one year after Oregon played in its first Rose Bowl in 37 years, Nike co-founder and former Oregon runner Phil Knight gathered his top executives to talk about how they could make Oregon more top-of-mind — especially in the eyes of recruits. In the meeting was Nike’s top designer, Tinker Hatfield, who also was on the track and field team during his days at Oregon.
Hatfield’s team dreamed up more futuristic jerseys — a range of combinations that no other program had ever flaunted — and redesigned the logo. Gone was was “U” from the “UO” mark, leaving just the “O.” The letter was redesigned with the inside rim in the shape of the old track at Hayward Field, the University of Oregon’s legendary venue. The outside rim was the shape of what Autzen Stadium looked like as you flew over it.
But the Ducks aren’t the only university with a close business relationship with Nike as the Portland Business Journal pointed out in its listicle running down 10 extras of Ohio State’s deal with the swooshed-ones.
A couple snippets of the “fun facts”:
4. Nike pays Ohio State $50,000 each year of the contract, which runs through 2018, for the appearances of coaches ($28,000) and for design and marketing consultation ($22,000). That’s in addition to the other financial terms of the deal, including $2.5 million in equipment and $1.5 million in cash this year.
5. Nike gets 10 tickets to each football game and 10 tickets to each bowl game, a similar level of tickets that Nike gets from other top-tier athletic departments.
Finally, it wouldn’t be a big game if elected officials weren’t wagering tourism-marketing strategies. This year, Govs. John Kitzhaber and John Kasich will have to share their winnings with those 21-and-over only, according to the Portland Tribune.
If the Buckeyes win, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber has agreed to send a case of Total Domination IPA from Ninkasi Brewing Co. of Eugene, where Kitzhaber graduated from high school.
If the Ducks win, Ohio Gov. John Kasich has agreed to send a six-pack of Columbus Brewing Co. IPA, a tray of lasagna from Monte Carlo Italian Kitchen in Kasich’s hometown of Westerville, and Buckeyes, peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate. (Real buckeyes are nuts from trees related to the horse chestnut.)
