As a minor example, and to satisfy nitpickers in advance, no, I don't have a link to this...it came from a very close friend who was in information technology with Eastbay. But a few years back in '05, they released the throwback uniforms and advertised the shorts with the
on the side panels at the bottom. He mentioned that there were roughly 13,000 orders placed for those within the first 7 hours of them being posted as available on the website. Word spread when a poster on scout linked them.
When Eastbay ended up pulling the product after the University contacted them due to violation of right of use concerns, my buddy literally mentioned that roughly 12,800 of the orders ended up being cancelled by customers.
Ironically enough, I was one of the first orders that was placed, and after significant complaining, I was actually able to have my single pair order fulfilled with the
intact.
Anyway, to this day, I don't purchase or wear any Illinois apparel without the
on it...and I won't as long as I'm around. Doesn't mean anything to some folks, but its my own little way of making my stance on the topic known. So while I agree that all student athletes need to receive the highest level of support from the institution, our administration simply caved on the issue out of their own desire...and used the NCAA threat as a reason to deflect attention for doing so. We could have still maintained the
and hosted tournament events if push had come to shove.