The Seattle Seahawks wrapped up a successful NFL season by defeating the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII last night. Much of its success was accomplished at home with a 7-1 record in Seattle during this season, after an undefeated 2012 home record. It is no secret that the organization credits its fans, the “12th Man,” for many of those wins. The Seattle fans are so loud, that they registered a Guinness Book World Record of 137.6 decibels during a game this past December. They’ve even shook the ground so much that it generated an earthquake…twice.
In the days leading to the Super Bowl, Boeing even decided to show its support and painted a 747 jet in a Seahawks paint scheme with the number 12 on the back of it and flew it in a “12” flight pattern over the state of Washington (read about that here).
There’s no denying the “12th Man” is a big part of the Seattle tradition and its success. One thing you may not know, however, is that in order to use the term “12th Man,” the Seahawks need to pay Texas A&M for the rights to it.
The story of the “12th Man” (which you can read about here) dates back to the 1920’s and is about a Texas A&M athlete who came down from the stands and suited up in the middle of a football game because the A&M football team was being decimated by injuries. He didn’t have to go into the game that day, but he was the next man up. The term was brought back in the 1930’s and from that point on the entire A&M student body has been known as the 12th Man, standing for the entirety of games waiting to be called upon if needed.
In 1989, Texas A&M filed its first trademark application (U.S. Registrations: 1612053) for the term “12TH MAN” which covered a variety of services and goods, including clothing, and followed it with a number of other applications throughout the years (U.S. Registrations: 1948306, 3354769, 4301538). In January 2006, the week before the Seattle Seahawks made its first Super Bowl appearance, Texas A&M filed a lawsuit to stop the Seahawks from using the term. Eventually, the two parties settled, with the Seahawks agreeing to pay a one-time fee of $100,000 and an additional $5,000 for every year of the deal. That deal was renewed for another five years in 2011. Texas A&M did place some geographical limitations on the deal, which only allows the Seahawks to use the mark in Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, and Washington, but is that enough to protect the mark? In 2006 when the deal was originally made, Facebook, Twitter, and every other form of social media hadn’t blown up to the point they are today. Coupled by this year’s Super Bowl victory and expected strength of the Seattle team for a least the next couple of years, Texas A&M will most likely be looking for a nice payday in 2016 when it is time to renew the 12th Man’s contract.
Otherwise, we might just witness someone who can stop that 12th Man after all.
