Around the 'Shoe

Edited recap: "Penn State gear is still selling, at least according to the latest data from the company that controls the school's sports trademarks at retail. IMG-owned Collegiate Licensing Company, which represents the interests of nearly 200 schools, has released its royalty rankings for the school year (July 2011 to June 2012) and Penn State has fallen only two spots, from 10th to 12th. While the company doesn't provide any sales numbers, the rankings represent where the schools fall in terms of getting royalties from their trademarked items being sold at retail. (But) Matt Powell, an analyst for SportsOneSource, a sports market retail tracking firm that monitors sales in sporting goods stores, says that in July, Penn State merchandise sales were down 50 percent from where they were during the same period last year. Powell's company does not track sales at college bookstores. 'The bottom just dropped out,' he said. 'The trend certainly seems to show that fans are moving away from supporting Penn State.'"

Note: This tracks 12-month sales through June 2012, which includes July-November last year before the scandal hit, as well as the first six months of this year, which was before the Freeh Report report was released, the plea bargain with the NCAA was brokered, and their penalties announced.

Last year, I remembering reading that OSU's gear sales suffered significantly because we didn't have an identifiable "marquee" player...racks and racks of Pryor's #2 jerseys went unsold. Imagine how many PSU blue #25's (Silas Redd) have been made but will go unsold this year. The drop from 10th to 12th more than likely happened after the scandal was announced. We'll have to wait until next year before this really means anything.