Team Insight - January, 2008
MRSA Is Here To Stay
While vendors help team dealers learn the basics of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, they are selling a lot of product to schools looking for answers. So where do we go from here?
A mere 12 months ago, perhaps one in 10 team dealers showed any interest in – or knowledge of – methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Now, one year later, after at least four reported deaths attributed to it – along with countless school closi...
Baseball: A Strong Lineup
While metal bat bans continue to dominate conversations, baseball continues as a bread-and-butter sport for America’s team dealers.
While baseball fans are heating up the hot stove league during the winter months, team dealers are busy pounding the pavement – and their keyboards – to sell and place orders for the upcoming baseball season. By and large, the results demonstrate tha...
Baseball: A Uniform Approach
Want to know what your teams will be asking for this season? A survey of 10 of the team industry’s uniform vendors finds performance, fabrications and new looks warming up in the bullpen as traditional looks continue to dominate the starting lineup.
While the sport itself is stepped in tradition, baseball uniforms are demanding the latest technology and looks on the field. Performance continues to top the list of major trends, but in fact moisture management really doesn’t qualify as a trend any...
Apparel: Performance Peek
Under Armour continues to rule the roost, but for the first time team dealers are mentioning Nike as a brand starting to make inroads in the still-strong performance apparel market .
If Jim Butler has a crystal ball, he’s not telling. But somehow the owner of Butler Sporting Goods, Hyannis, MA, was dead-on one year ago when dishing with a Team Intelligence editor about what 2007 would hold for the performance apparel category. Sa...
Customization: Have It Your Way
That’s what team dealers are telling their customers, as technology and imagination are ushering in a new era of customized product, especially in categories such as bags, caps and socks.
Four years ago, Terri Long was a housewife who wanted to learn about embroidering. At the time, her goal was very modest. “I wanted to get towels monogrammed,” she remembers. Today, Long is the owner of a growing company called Get Personal, whic...
Wrestling: Pinned Down
A host of new products gives dealers something to bring to the mat when selling wrestling to schools and clubs. Here’s a look at the most interesting and promising new products for 2008.
Three From the Three Stripes Three new items – one earguard making its debut and two shoe styles that play on the three stripes heritage – mark Adidas’ wrestling effort in 2008. 1. Adidas adiSTRIKE Earguard ... The first wrestling earguard by A...
Sports Medicine: Mouthguard Roundtable
The Team Intelligence Vendor Roundtable convenes to talk about the mouthguard business – or is that the “mouth guard” business? – and to offer advice on where team dealers can make money selling upgraded protection to schools and individuals.
Sitting at the table … Anna Amador, director of merchandising, JR286 (Under Armour), Redondo Beach, CA Joe Manzo, president, Brain-Pad, Conshohocken, PA Rob Mogolov, product manager, Cramer Products, Gardner, KS Jay Turkbas, VP-product ...
Business Is Good
After a somewhat tumultuous year, the four team buying groups have responded to a changing industry and now are focused on doing what they do best — helping their members make more money.
It was just over one year ago that the team buying groups were in a state of flux. New management and aggressive membership recruitment efforts had combined to shake the previously staid world of the Big Four, with many questioning just what the land...
Getting Involved: Reaching Out To Your Community
Team dealers can reach out beyond just their schools and teams to partner with real grassroots programs as a way to connect with their communities. The author provides a Top 10 List on how to develop your inner philanthropist.
When you think of grassroots organizations, you probably think of the leagues and clubs you sell to every day. But I challenge you to take it a step further and consider “the dirt” — the organizations that plant the seeds for sports programs that rea...
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How would you like to be able to immediately yell at me and tell me how silly or off-base some of the articles are that we run in Team Intelligence? Or, on the flip side, how wonderful, intelligent and on target we are as soon as you are done reading...
SGMA Sells Its Show: Now Called Team Sports Show
After only one effort, SGMA has sold its Las Vegas trade show – originally known as the SGMA Spring Market – to dmg world media, which puts on Surf Expo and other industry trade events. Now dmg plans to launch two shows in partnership with the associ...
Pay Attention: New High School Rules for 2008
We like to periodically keep an eye on and report some significant high school rule changes that will impact both team dealers and their vendors in the upcoming seasons. Dealers need to make sure their schools are aware of these new regulations. •...
One Ball Travels The World
In an effort to unify cultures and create a sense of global community, Angelina and Noel Andreoni have taken one Spalding basketball around the globe for the past six years and have asked people they meet to “Shoot the ball.” It all began when N...
Maverik Lacrosse Ready To Rumble
Eager to take on the established big boys in the lacrosse business – as well as big-name newcomers such as Adidas and Reebok – the game plan from upstart Maverik Lacrosse is to utilize its player props and intimate knowledge of the game to secure its...
FBI Investigating Circle System
It wasn’t talked about much last summer, but now a recent New York Times article has spelled out allegations against helmet reconditioner Circle Systems that claim it did not properly test helmets before returning them to their customers. Accordin...
Third Annual Soccer Event a Huge Success In D.C.
While the Houston Dynamo may have hoisted their second consecutive MLS Cup in Washington D.C. on November 18, a select group of soccer specialty retailers and vendors, along with a host of Major League Soccer licensees, were the biggest winners in th...
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