November 19, 2024
It’s those little motivators that can mean so much to college level players. Getting “free stuff” as part of being a part of your team makes a player feel awesome. They can wear their team gear with pride around campus and be recognized by their friends as being a part of a college team. But it also goes beyond that. Having your team represented professionally when arriving at home or away matches instills pride in players. The team concept can be emphasized not only in spirit but in physical appearance. Having your team represented as role models to the community helps the team, young players who attend the games or watch on streams, and parents who have supported their child both spiritually and financially.
Many teams look organized and professional upon arrival, during warmups, and on the court during games. Some teams may not put much effort into the importance of setting a disciplined tone. It’s inspiring to fans (and players) to see a well-organized warmup with players dressed uniformly. We have seen warmups with some players in their pajama pants and hoodies rather than a warmup or practice jersey.
We recognize that some teams have small or zero budgets for things like this. We also recognize that many teams, almost 70% in our survey, do some kind of fundraising as being a part of their team to defer costs of their programs. Other larger institutions have bigger budgets that can expend more freely on player merchandise.
You may ask the question “What should athletes get as far as merchandise from a sports team”? There are very different views on the topic depending on which coach or administrator you are talking to. You would think player safety would be the first thing that comes to mind. Those decisions are usually provided by trainers and are not part of this analysis. Coaches have very different approaches according to our survey. Some just don’t believe in the concept of giving out merchandise free and have a pay for items protocol through the team or through the school bookstore. Almost 1 of 10 teams surveyed are in this situation.
Some teams provide merchandise only to freshman and or sophomores at the start of their programs and then are on their own the rest of the way through their playing careers. Others may use “Merch” as an incentive plan for results achieved on the court. A tournament win may result in an extra team warm-up or sweatshirt coming the players way.
We asked the simple question “Are you satisfied with your issued merchandise outside of your team uniform?”. Players on average are satisfied with their “Merch”. Thirty-six percent said they were not satisfied and 64% were satisfied.
What do teams give out currently? According to the survey, on average, the typical % of players receive the following items as part of being on their D3 volleyball teams:
The vast majority of teams give out T-shirts or warmup shirts to their players. Many teams give out multiple sets of shirts ranging in our survey from one to seven. Sweatshirts, sweatpants, and warmup suits are next in line as a common give-away followed by team duffle/backpacks and team shorts. The biggest package with the most cost estimate was submitted as: A sweatshirt, 2 sweatpants, 1 crewneck, 1 polo, 2 long sleeves, 2 hooded tees, 7 shirts and shorts for practice. Other teams offered jackets, windbreakers, parkas, and quarter zips. Most offer a combination of 2-5 items overall.
How much are teams estimated at spending each season? Well, it will depend on the number of players on each team’s squad, so we took a look at average per player costs using estimated cost projection for each item compared to a team’s issuances of each product. Based on our analysis, see the following graph:
Approximately $125 per player is currently being spent per our estimate. The lowest amount was $0 and the highest amount was $544 per player. With team sizes ranging from 10 to 20 for the most part, the average spend per team per year is between $1,250 and $2,500. These numbers do not take into consideration any sponsorships that teams may get from sports apparel brands.
Teams have many challenges to stay within budgets during season. One of the survey questions we asked was above laundry service for uniforms. 86% of respondents said that their programs provide laundry service for their players practice and game uniforms.
Team Players seem very pleased with their officially issued uniforms. Almost 2/3 of all respondents thought their current uniforms were Excellent or Good. Just 13% were dissatisfied with their uniforms. Some of the comments regarding uniforms were centered around personal preferences regarding sleeves or no sleeves, size availability, fit or style, lack of away jersey’s, or color. Some players were very happy with Slunks as uniforms.
InsideHitter.com will be sharing many of the details collected from its player survey administered in May 2024. We received 270 responses and based on the total population of players, a 5% error rate, and a 50 % population proportion, we have a 93% confidence level in the accuracy of our survey results.