Why bother with a professional sports license?

Manufacturers have to pay multiple royalties (to the league and players) which translates to smaller margins. Players may be traded thereby limiting their appeal to fans of both teams' cities. Perhaps the trickiest problem is regionalization. "You couldn't sell (New York Giants quarterback) Kerry Collins in Dallas," explains Mike Horn, president of Palisades Marketing. Only a few stars transcend the sport to enter mass consciousness, such as Minnesota Vikings receiver Randy Moss or Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant.

Todd McFarlane, president of McFarlane Toys, who was in negotiations to bring the NHL league license to his NHLPA figures as PLAYTHINGS went to press, says the benefits outweigh the problems which can be solved, he added, by regional packing or open stock (letting retailers pick and choose which players they want to sell).

The biggest plus, McFarlane says, is that "sports come back every year; somebody's always the new all-star." Unlike a movie license, which has a narrow window of opportunity, "if you can get more than one sports license, you can have product come out year 'round." Even if a movie does translate to toys, "it doesn't mean people will be buying Shrek toys the next four years."

For Tom Goedde, marketing director for Showdown Sports at Wizards of the Coast, a license is a "seal of approval (and a) communication of quality. What fun is it to play with 450 to 500 invented players?" WOTC's NFL Showdown will debut this fall. Like the MLB game, players collect individual player cards and match them with various strategy cards.

Occasionally, there are exceptions to the desirability of a major league license. NewKidCo doesn't see the need in its new baseball games. The New York City-based video game publisher recently struck a deal with Little League Baseball for what CEO Hank Kaplan believes is the first licensed interactive Little League baseball game. Little League Baseball, Kaplan says, "is what kids identify with. They're Major League spectators but Little League competitors."

Four titles, targeting six- to 14-year-olds, will launch in 2002 for PlayStation, PS2, Game Boy Advance and Nintendo's Gamecube.

Without having to deal with what Kaplan calls the "the delicacies of celebrity involvement," the Little League license could be a (comedic pause) home run (rimshot).