November Email to School Complains About Jimbo Fisher's 9-Year Old Son Wearing Under Armour Gear
A screengrab shows Jimbo Fisher and his son seconds before a postgame embrace following Florida State's win over Miami in November, 2013. ABC/ESPN
"Minutes after his team had trounced rival Miami last November, Florida State Football coach Jimbo Fisher got a pleasant surprise. His 9-year-old son Ethan ran up to his dad on the field and leapt into his arms.
Their embrace, captured by ABC cameras, struck most viewers as a heartwarming moment—especially given Ethan's widely reported struggle with Fanconi anemia, a rare and serious genetic disease. But a different reaction emerged from one camp: Nike
In an email sent hours after the Nov. 2 game, Mark Dupes, who as Nike's assistant director for football sports marketing helps oversee the company's $4.2 million licensing and apparel deal with the school, congratulated Florida State administrators on the win. "Hey guys great win and game! Appreciate everything you all do for us! Keep it rolling."
Then Dupes turned to another matter: the sweatshirt Ethan wore during that on-field embrace. "Hey got a text from the USA Director of Sports Marketing last night telling me of how good things look w FSU and our players and sideline staff, exposure for the Brand was exceptional. Then 5 min later I rec a new message…Said ABC cameras were on Jimbo and his Son ad end of the game…His son was Wearing Under Armour FSU sweatshirt! Ouch. Can we please ask Jimbo to eliminate that from the son's wardrobe in the future! Let me know if I can help w anything. Thx guys. MD"
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Nike email to Florida State
Asked about the email Thursday, Monk Bonasorte, FSU's senior associate athletics director, said he remembered receiving it but hadn't acted on it. "What am I going to do, go to coach and say, 'Hey can you take that shirt off him?'" Bonasorte said. "I'm not going to call Jimbo Fisher and tell him what his son can wear."
Bonasorte said he didn't think the email should be taken too seriously. "I think Mark was just trying to say, 'Hey, can the coach's son wear something else?'" he said. "It was more just a joke to us. It wasn't Nike being the big bad wolf telling a kid what to wear."
In a statement, Nike said its "relationship is with the Florida State Department of Athletics and does not extend to their family members." Jimbo Fisher declined to comment. Dupes did not return calls seeking comment.
Photos from subsequent games, including Florida State's national championship win over Auburn, show Ethan Fisher wearing Nike brand apparel.
The November email about Ethan Fisher's sweatshirt is one of several hundred athletic department emails from last fall that the Journal acquired through the Freedom of Information Act. Dozens of the emails, which cover a two-week period, concern FSU's relationship with Nike, which will pay the school $1.4 million in cash and $2.8 million in apparel this year. In the 2012-13 school year, FSU had revenue from its athletic teams of $89.1 million, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
In an email on Nov. 12, FSU trademark licensing director Sherri Dye asked Bonasorte what to do about requests from two Nike rivals—Under Armour and Adidas—to produce Florida State T-shirts bearing the No. 5 worn by the Seminoles' star quarterback, Jameis Winston. "We do not have anything in our contract that prevents us from approving these licensees from making tshirts although I know Nike won't like it," Dye wrote. She noted that another company, which she didn't name, had produced a "nice looking" #5 shirt and sold nearly 10,000 of them in two weeks. "Do you have any issues with us approving?" she asked. Dye didn't return a call seeking comment.
Nike declined to comment on the T-shirt emails. Under Armour didn't return calls seeking comment. Adidas didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.
Nike's prominent presence in the internal communications at Florida State isn't a surprise. Athletic apparel companies have been known to dictate everything from the design of a team's uniform to whether players are allowed to wear tape over their cleats.
The apparel companies are also famously vigilant about how their logos and marks appear on television, where a few seconds of exposure can be invaluable. Total retail sales of collegiate licensed products were estimated at $4.6 billion for 2013, according to estimates from License! Global Magazine.
Last year, for instance, Nike asked several top college football programs, including Alabama, to return the apparel it had sent because it did not believe the logos were prominent enough on television. The clothing was then sent back to the teams with an extra logo."
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