The University Of Baltimore County Retrievers 16 seeded men’s basketball team recently defeated the #1 overall seed University of Virginia Cavaliers men’s basketball team. UMBC became the first 16-seed team to beat a 1-seed team in the NCAA Tournament living up to the name March Madness. The school officials hav decided to take advantage of their accomplishment and began to file for a trademark behind the victory. ESPN reports:
After their big win over Virginia, attorneys Jason Belzer and Darren Heitner pointed out to school officials that they didn’t have “Retrievers” or “Retriever Nation” trademarked. They also filed to trademark “16 over 1.”
“With all the attention, it made sense for us to take care of it right away,” UMBC athletic director Tim Hall said.
The victory has driven the sales of UMBC merchandise to unexpected numbers. Most people did not have UMBC having a shot against a tough Virginia team that was among the top 5 teams all season. Darren Rovell of ESPN reported:
In the 24 hours after the victory, the school bookstore’s website sold two times the amount of gear it sold in the entire year.
This filing will most certainly benefit the school who is looking to cash in on the success of the basketball program. Furthermore this leads to the consistent discussion regarding student athletes not being paid. The men’s basketball team won the game but only the school benefits from the increased exposure and sales of the merchandise. We’ll see if the NCAA will ever to be willing to find a way to compensate players who sacrifice their time and compete at a high level for these schools.
UMBC will be looking to advance tonight against Kansas State Wildcats tonight at 7:40 ET.