Professional sports leagues have been teaming up with clothing retailers and different celebrities in hopes to broaden their female fan base and stray away from what they call the “shrink it and pink it” methodology of selling women’s sports apparel. 

Most recently, Kristin Cavallari, current reality star and wife of Chicago Bears quarterback, Jay Cutler, partnered with NFL Women’s Clothing and Junk Food Clothing to create her own line of NFL Women’s wear. The NFL licensed every team logo to Cavallari and Junk Food for her collection, which debuted at New York Fashion Week last Fall . 

Currently, the NFL has 49 million female fans , but there’s still room for growth. Partnering with a celebrity such as Cavallari gives the NFL a shot at reaching a wider range of females, who may not be interested in football, but are fans of Cavallari. She is very active in the social scene. Cavallari has more than one million followers on Twitter, where she actively promotes her clothing line and is constantly interacting with her fans. 

Actress Alyssa Milano also partnered up with the $1.2 billion company, G-III Apparel Group , who has licensing agreements with all of the major sports leagues, including NASCAR, to create her sportswear line, “Touch.” Unlike Cavallari, Milano’s line caters to all sports, not just the NFL, which in turn amounts for more exposure among a wider range of fans. Similarly, Milano is also big on Twitter, with more than three million followers amongst her social media channels. 

Licensing deals like these can be very lucrative for both the retailer and the sports league. In 2012, Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association (LIMA) stated that total sales in both collegiate and professional sports was worth upward of $12 billion . With the league generally receiving a percentage of the sales, these deals have the ability to bring in a vast amount of money. 

Partnering with unexpected sources as well as celebrities are great ways to broaden the reach on fans, and in this case create more sponsorship inventory. The NFL generates around $1 billion alone on merchandise and licensing , so it’s no wonder pro leagues are licensing logos out to more and more retailers. Teaming up with Cavallari and Milano was a smart move by these leagues, because not only are they going to reach a different crowd, but will be bringing in the dollars from their licensing deals at the same time.