Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Thursday, March 28, 2013
(BLOOMINGTON) - A successful season on the IU basketball court isn’t just providing a boost to fans. It’s also big business and, in at least one case, putting people to work.
While fans bleed cream and crimson, employees at Taylor Imprinted Sportswear in Bloomington print it.
"We've been very busy with anything striped this year," said Dennis Bastin, the company's business unit manager.
"Usually this is our slow time and we're doing a lot of cleaning up," he said. "Now, we actually put on an extra shift in order to get out IU products."
They shipped a quarter of a million dollars in licensed merchandise last month.
University officials say royalties for IU merchandise are up more than 30 percent this year so far -- and that doesn't include tournament sales.
"We expect that number will probably be higher than that when it's all said and done," said IU spokesperson Mark Land.
Now that the team has moved on to the Sweet Sixteen, Bastin said employees have been called in to immediately start making merchandise - several thousand pieces per hour.
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