Texas Longhorns Selling Electricity To Fans

You can buy t-shirts, bobbleheads, cutlery, camping gear, computer gear and, oh, bobbleheads, based on your favorite college teams. So, what’s left to brand? How about the power coming into your home? That’s what’s happening in Dallas, where the University of Texas and Texas A&M have begun selling electricity and natural gas under the Texas Longhorns Energy and Aggies Energy brands. No word on whether you’ll get hit with rolling blackouts if the teams hit a losing streak.

AdAge flips the switch on the powerful news:

In a deal put together by sponsorship broker IMG College and Branded Retail Energy, a Dallas-based company that markets electricity through affinity partnerships, the schools will create university-branded power companies. Texas Longhorns Energy and Texas A&M Aggies Energy will begin selling electricity and natural gas to consumers in deregulated markets in the state next month.

“We’re very conscientious about our brand. We want to be careful with that logo and that symbol,” University of Texas Senior Associate Athletic Director Chris Plonsky said. “When BRE and IMG brought it to us, we went ‘Huh?’ But it made sense because the issue of sustainability, especially on large college campuses that use a lot of energy, is important to us.”

…Texas Longhorns Energy will be powered by one of the nation’s top retail electricity providers, Champion Energy Services, and will provide renewable green energy to alumni and fans in deregulated regions of Texas.

News reports about the plan don’t provide much detail about where the program’s “renewable” energy will come from, but Champion’s web site says that the company’s green products are “sourced from renewable generation using wind, solar energy and biofuels.”

Fans, according to UT, will now be able to “integrate their passion for the Longhorns into their daily lives.” Shocking.

Texans Can Support Home Teams With Branded Electricity [Advertising Age ]

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