CFB offseason thread 2025

[HanSenSE]

No doubt. I can recall many halftimes of adding stats while covering high school games and hearing pep bands playing "On Wisconsin" with different words.

See also: Notre Dame Victory March.

One school I covered was nicknamed the Redskins (before California outlawed it), so the band would fire up "Hail to the Redskins" at key moments.

 

[rtse11]

Just think if all schools cracked down like this. I've seen at least a half dozen high schools use some version of the University of Michigan helmet.

I think the difference is that it's a design and not a logo. Fritz Crisler had the wings on his Princeton helmets before he went to Ann Arbor. Indiana, Michigan State and Georgetown all had some version of it in the 20s and 30s. Even some NFL teams had it in the 30s. So I don't think Michigan could claim any copyright issue with a high school.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

I talk about this very scenario in the law and ethics unit of my classes. U of Tennessee may be going overboard here, but it's not the first case of a college cracking down on a small school using a very similar logo.

If UT were to allow the school to use its logo without permission, a savvy businessperson could come to the agreement with the school district to make and sell shirts with the school's logo, and the school will get 50 percent of the revenue without having to do anything. That's a win for the school.

The businessperson could then sell the shirts in Knoxville, and when UT says that it didn't license that vendor to use its logo, the vendor can then rightly claim that the shirt it is selling is NOT a UT shirt, but a shirt from the small school district. So UT is coming off as the bad guy when it is protecting its copyrighted material.

Isn't there also something about "if you don't protect your copyrights, you can eventually lose them?" I seem to remember that being bandied about when the UA started cracking down on various local businesses using the Razorback logo.

 

[dixiehack]

An old article (2010) but pretty thorough. Explains a lot of the thinking behind what the universities are up to but also notes some are willing to work with high schools for a nominal fee.

Universities Crack Down on Logo Use by High Schools | Sports Litigation Alert

KSU's licensing program is innovative in the field of college trademark licensing. The school allows 94 schools in 28 states to use whatever color it wants with the logo, except red and blue, which are the colors of Kansas, KSU's rival school. Additionally, schools are allowed to use the Powercat logo on uniforms, signs and stationary, but if the school wishes to sell apparel with the logo on it, it must use one of the university-licensed vendors, with ten percent royalty going to KSU.

 

[ChrisLong]

Packers, Georgia, tons of high schools have the same G.
In high school, half of our league had "On Wisconsin" as its fight song:
On Santa Monica, On Redondo, On Hawthorne, On MIra Costa. Redondo was the only one that didn't sound wonkie.

 

[micropolitan guy]

Just think if all schools cracked down like this. I've seen at least a half dozen high schools use some version of the University of Michigan helmet.

Well Michigan stole it from Princeton. And Tubby Raymond took it to Delaware.

 

[micropolitan guy]

Packers, Georgia, tons of high schools have the same G.
In high school, half of our league had "On Wisconsin" as its fight song:
On Santa Monica, On Redondo, On Hawthorne, On MIra Costa. Redondo was the only one that didn't sound wonkie.

You can hear a slice of "On Wisconsin" in "Be True to Your School," an early Beach Boys throwaway. Of course they went to Hawthorne High.

 

[tapintoamerica]

Just think if all schools cracked down like this. I've seen at least a half dozen high schools use some version of the University of Michigan helmet.

The Georgia G might be the most pirated mark in the land.

 

[tapintoamerica]

Isn't there also something about "if you don't protect your copyrights, you can eventually lose them?" I seem to remember that being bandied about when the UA started cracking down on various local businesses using the Razorback logo.

Yes. The law requires owners of a mark to protect it.

 

[DanOregon]

Aren't some of these school fight songs old enough to be in the public domain at this point?

 

[HanSenSE]

Biggest news from Reich's newser today seems to be he will just keep the seat warm for his replacement in 2026.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Just think if all schools cracked down like this. I've seen at least a half dozen high schools use some version of the University of Michigan helmet.

*Princeton University helmet.