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SALT LAKE CITY — The University of Utah is requiring retailers to sell only merchandise with generic numbers important to the university's history in order to avoid the appearance of profiting off a player's fame.
The Deseret News reported the arrangement in a larger story about the rising commercialization in college sports.
Across all sports, retailers will be able to sell University of Utah gear with these numbers:
- '11' - For 2011, the year Utah entered the Pac-12
- '15' - For 2015, the current year
- '50' - For 1850, the school's establishment date
- '96' - For 1996, the "Year of Swoop"
- '04' or '4' - For 2004, the year of the Utes' first undefeated season
- '08' or '8' - For 2008, the year of the Utes' second undefeated season
- '44' - For 1944, the year of the Utes' national championship.
- '61' - For 1961, the year of a Utes' Final Four appearance.
- '66' - For 1966, the year of a Utes' Final Four appearance.
- '98' - For 1998, the year of a Utes' Final Four appearance.
The move comes after a 2014 ruling by a federal judge in the Ed O'Bannon case, which asserted that the NCAA was illegally profiting from the likeness of athletes used in the popular NCAA football video game series.
This month, a court settlement that pays those athletes appearing in the game from 2003 to 2014 was agreed to. That settlement will pay student-athletes up to $6,000 or more for their appearances in the game.
Since the ruling, colleges around the country have become hesitant to profit off of any representation of individual players. The University of Arizona has a similar restriction on the numbers used. Northwestern and Texas A&M have also started to sell only generic jerseys.
BYU, on the other hand, offers merchandise featuring numbers of popular players in its stores. The No. 4 jersey, worn by BYU's most prominent player Taysom Hill, is the lead result when searching for BYU replica jerseys on its bookstore website.
The link between number and player is occasionally promoted by third-party stores seeking to sell merchandise. According to ESPN, one analyst felt that the move to generic numbers "could result in a 25 percent decrease in sales" among teams with big-name players.
