Thursday, March 3, 2005
Photo by Courtney Kuhlen
The RockChalk wristbands, blue pieces of rubber that originally sold for $1, are now fetching more than 20 times that amount from collectors on eBay.
The Kansas University Athletic Corporation ordered 50,000 wristbands last fall to capitalize on the LiveStrong-style rubber wristband trend.
As word spread that the Athletics Department stopped selling the blue wristbands at the end of 2004, they almost instantly became a collectors’ item.
The wristbands, which were sold from October to December at all home sporting events and at www.kustore.com, are consistently selling for more than $20 on eBay.
Thirty-six eBay users bid on a RockChalk wristband Monday. It sold for $30, and some have gone for even more. But most KU students are choosing to hang on to their wristbands despite the high prices people are paying on eBay.
Kevin Waymire, Wichita sophomore, said he wouldn’t sell his wristband.
“It’s something that shows my respect,” he said. “It shows how proud I am to be a KU student.”
Not everyone is so sentimental. Sam Funk, Holcomb freshman, said he would consider selling his wristband for a big enough wad of cash.
“I mean, I’m a college student,” he said.
Andrew Steinberg, assistant athletic director in charge of marketing, said the department still had a few thousand wristbands, which it planned to give away at the baseball game versus Western Illinois on March 18 and at the softball game versus Arkansas on April 27.
He said that in addition to the wristbands that were sold, the department handed out thousands of wristbands to student-athletes, the spirit squad, the marching band and department employees. Wristbands were also given to everyone who attended the women’s basketball game on Feb. 2.
Steinberg said the department was not planning to print more wristbands.
“It’s one of the deals where the trend has run its course,” he said. “I think it was a great promotion to run in the fall, and that’s where it stands.”
Jim Marchiony, associate athletics director, said RockChalk wristbands raised about $20,000 for the Williams Educational Fund to pay for athletics scholarships.
Some have criticized KUAC for not giving profits to charity. Because the Lance Armstrong Foundation uses the money raised from its popular LiveStrong bracelets to aid cancer awareness and research, rubber bracelets have been largely equated with charity organizations.
Some college athletics departments have distributed part of the profits from wristband sales outside the athletic department. The University of Michigan’s “M Go Blue for Mott” wristband sells for $2, with half of the profits going to help build a new children’s hospital. The University of Illinois’ “Loyalty” wristband sells for $2 with the money going to the university’s library campaign.
Though KUAC didn’t spread the wristband profits outside of KU athletics, Marchiony said giving money to the Williams Fund was “a good way to raise money to help student-athletes.”
Funk said he was more than happy to give $1 to help attract new athletes.
“We’ve got a lot of seniors graduating,” he said. “If it takes every student buying a wristband to get some new players, not just in basketball but in any sport, that makes the school look good.”
Edited by Kendall Dix
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