We’ll admit, it’s been a baseball-heavy merchandise news cycle lately. But, what can we say? There’s good reason for it. Along with the IronPigs recent merchandise success, Michigan’s team-only baseball hat is making headlines.
It all started, as most things do, with a tweet. The Detroit News posted a photo of University of Michigan’s baseball coach Erik Bakich sporting the team’s new hat.
Check out this video of UM baseball coach Erik Bakich @detroitnews : https://t.co/wxz30U2DgX
— angelique (@chengelis) June 11, 2019
The hat featured the Great Lakes surrounding Michigan and Ann Arbor signified by a maize Block M. Once fans saw it, they took to social media to find out how they could get one, but at the time, it was only available to the team.
Then, Bakick realized he could capitalize on this opportunity. He announced that the hat will only be available to those who purchase season tickets for the 2020 season. It looks like Bakick should change his title from head coach to head coach and chief marketing officer.
It will be interesting to see how this new (and spur-of-the-moment) promotional marketing campaign affects season ticket purchases, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it led to a bump. Even at the college level, fan apparel can be a huge business opportunity.
