The 2020 Licensing International Excellence Awards nominees include companies from five countries on three continents. Licenses from the world of entertainment, lifestyle brands, museum collections and corporate trademarks are all included on the list.

Overall, more than 600 entries were received this year from companies in 22 countries and were judged by a panel of 152 executives from 20 nations.

The following are the nominees for Best Licensed Brand – Sports and Collegiate.

Cricket World Cup – International Cricket Council and Velocity Brand Management

Cricket World Cup saw fans from more than 157 countries attend more than 48 matches and 10 warm up matches across 11 venues with cumulative dedicated TV audience of more than 3.74 billion. During the eight-week tournament, 44 merchandise outlets were developed — 23 purpose-built — including the 40-metre merchandise marquee installed on the grounds of the Lord’s Cricket Ground. There were 1,574 SKU lines across 10 competing nations with 177,734 units sold to 103,118 customers. The CWC19 online store launch generated Fanatics’ highest day single-day sales amount generated for an online store launch in the U.K.

NFLPA

The NFLPA is driving innovation via its licensing and marketing arm NFL Players Inc. The NFLPA has generated its sixth successive year of record revenue, surpassing $193 million in 2019. Player-licensed merchandise surpassed $1.65 billion in retail sales across key licensing categories from more than 75 licensees. Anchor licensees, EA SPORTS, Panini America and Fanatics all experienced record-breaking years fueled by NFL players. Multiyear licensing deals and partnerships enhanced the NFLPA as a globally renowned licensor.

U.S. Women’s National Team Players Association – USWNTA and OneTeam Players

In 2019, in its first full year of operation, the USWNTPA’s group licensing program earned $1 million in royalties, fueled by the team’s 2019 World Cup. The program has more than 30 licensees with USWNTPA products across all categories and sales through retailers including Target, Walmart and Fanatics. Global superstars such as Julie Ertz, Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe are captured on Wheaties boxes, EA video games and Panini trading cards.

WWE

WWE parlayed success from years past into another record-breaking year with a first-ever partnership with Topps to add 50 high-end Transcendent collection boxes to their WWE portfolio. Retailing for $15,000, each box contained rare autographed trading cards from the biggest WWE Superstars and Legends including the first-ever autographed trading card from WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. The Transcendent set boasted an autographed replica WWE Championship and a WrestleMania 35 experience including tickets to the event and an invitation to a pre-show VIP party at Met Life Stadium.

Click here to learn more about the nominees and Licensing International’s Excellence Awards.