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The NCAA might be the 300-pound gorilla in all of college sports in its operation of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
Remember this is the same organization that doesn’t allow media members at courtside unless their drink cups have the NCAA logo in order to protect its distinctive trademark.
And the association apparently won’t hesitate in pushing its weight against one of the major conferences in an proposed upcoming advertising campaign in a potential fight based in trademark law.
Forbes reports that NCAA has “filed an opposition” to the Big Ten’s use of “March Is On!” The NCAA claims that if the conference is “cleared to register the mark, then the Association will be damaged in its regular promotion of a wide range of goods and services” in relation to its trademarked “March Madness” slogan and its annual Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments.
The NCAA is attempting to prevent the Big Ten from registering the phrase in connection with “promotional and financial sponsorship of the presentation of athletic events,” TV and streaming of sports programming, production and distribution of sports TV and “providing online information in the field of sports, TV, video and audio entertainment.”
The opposition was filed on February 13 and The Big Ten Conference is required to submit an answer by March 25, 11 days after the 2017 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament is scheduled to begin.
The Big Ten is one of the top two or three conferences in terms of financial clout.
And it probably isn’t a coincidence that the NCAA isn’t hesitant to protect its turf — particularly after the Big Ten and the other Power Five conferences effectively squeezed the NCAA out of any control of the College Football Playoffs.
Tgriffin@express-news.net
Twitter: @TimGriffinBig12
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