<
>

Texas leads in merchandise royalties

For the eighth straight year, the University of Texas collected the most royalties of any college or university represented by the Collegiate Licensing Company, whose clients include all the major schools except Ohio State, Michigan State, University of Southern California and Oregon.

SEC schools dominated the top 10 in royalty rankings released by the company on Monday.

The University of Alabama came in second, followed by Kentucky (5), LSU (6), Florida (7), Georgia (8) and Arkansas (10), which broke the top 10 for the first time. Notre Dame (3), University of Michigan (4) and UNC (9) rounded out the top 10.

The list, which represented royalties on the $4.6 billion annual college merchandise business, reflects money collected by schools on sales of gear from July 1, 2012, to June 30, 2013.

Schools that saw a rise in the royalty rankings include Notre Dame, which went from ninth last season to third after playing in the BCS title game.

Texas A&M, thanks in part to an 11-2 season in its first year in the SEC and quarterback Johnny Manziel winning the Heisman Trophy, jumped from No. 19 to No. 12 over the past year, and University of Louisville moved from No. 32 last year to No. 25 thanks to the success of its championship men's basketball licensing program.

The biggest slide in merchandise royalties was Penn State, likely due to the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Penn State dropped from 10 to 12 last year and fell seven more spots this year to No. 19.

Nike was the No. 1 apparel licensee among college teams, while EA Sports, whose college game is the subject of two current lawsuits brought by former players, was the top non-apparel licensee. Although the NCAA recently announced it would take its name off the game, CLC says it will continue to license the school logos for future games.

CLC is an affiliate of IMG College, which is owned by sports conglomerate IMG.