New game-day shirts available every year
A demonstration of school spirit joins the ranks of kissing on the ‘A’ and riding the bronze bull as more than 9,000 of the new generation of game-day shirts have been sold to USU fans.
Members of the Athletic Department want new game-day shirts to be an annual tradition, Athletics Vice President Corey Mikkelsen said Tuesday. He said he would like to see everyone wear the new version to sporting events, though any blue shirt will do.
“I think the most important thing is to get people to wear their school colors,” he said.
USU graduate Ben Barnes designed the shirts for the 2006-2007 school year with some suggestions made from a design committee that came up with the shirt’s saying: “Bust Your A To Win.” Barnes has designed various logos for athletic teams, including the San Francisco 49ers.
“He did a marvelous job,” Mikkelsen said.
The game-day shirt tradition has been around for years, Mikkelsen said, but really took off three years ago when Athletics Vice President Tyler Olson pushed the “Show ’em your A Game” design, selling more than 12,000 T-shirts. It was the designated game-day shirt for two years.
Finance major Eric DeFries said he would prefer to see unity and consistency instead of a mix-matched student section.
“I think it’s stupid that they keep changing them,” he said, noting he bought last year’s “Meet the Challenge” shirt and said he doesn’t want to buy another one this year.
The annual shirts aren’t a means of making money as some students seem to think, Mikkelsen said. Other WAC schools get new shirts for every game, including Boise State, Nevada and New Mexico State – some of which cost up to $15.
He said selling the shirts for $5 comes close to the price of producing them, and as on the 9,000 already sold, there’s been an average profit of only 50 cents per shirt. All of it goes toward student activities like tailgate parties, Mikkelsen said.
Jeremy Hallows, a junior majoring in engineering, said he attended the NCAA tournament in San Diego, Calif., last spring and thought the game-day shirts showed school pride and unity
“There was always a crowd of people who had the blue Aggie shirts on,” he said.
DeFries said his main frustration is with students who don’t wear school colors to games, saying, “You’ve got to represent.”
The shirts are sold at the USU Bookstore as well as Smith’s, Albertson’s and The Logo Shop. The goal is to sell 15,000 shirts by the end of the year, Mikkelsen said.
The Athletic Department is also working on getting game-day sweatshirts. Saturday’s football game against the University of Utah showed Mikkelsen the need for warmer game-day apparel, as many fans came in their blue shirts, but covered them up with various colored overcoats. He said all-red Ute section looked much more unified.
As for the future of the game-day shirt tradition, Mikkelsen said “I hope they all stay blue.”
mof@cc.usu.edu