INDIANAPOLIS— The Licensing Resource Group's high school licensing division, LRG Prep, has partnered with the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) to manage its Authenticating Mark Program (AMP) whereby all balls and pucks used in interscholastic competition for which the NFHS writes playing rules must carry the official NFHS Authenticating Mark.
The NFHS Authenticating Mark Program officially began in the 2000-01 school year to ensure easy identification of inflated and non-inflated balls and pucks used in interscholastic competition. More than 19,000 high schools nationwide are required to use NFHS certified balls and pucks for their athletic teams, ensuring that more than 7,795,000 student athletes are competing on a level playing field. There are three main goals of the AMP, including:
· Ensure consistency in balls and pucks used in NFHS sanctioned interscholastic competition;
· Require a modest fee to be paid by manufacturers to generate revenue supporting student-athletes, athletic administrators, coaches and officials;
· Develop a more sophisticated set of standards in balls and pucks, and clearly communicate these standards to administrators, coaches and officials.
"We are very excited to be working with the NFHS to help streamline this vital element of its overall mission," said Lewis Hardy, CEO of the Licensing Resource Group. "By working closely with the NFHS and licensed manufacturers, we can help to ensure that balls and pucks are compliant, as well as generate revenue to fund on-going programs to benefit student-athletes and administrators at high schools of all sizes nationwide. The NFHS brand touches more than 60 million high school fans annually, so we are proud to be supporting such a large area of the population with the goal of advancing fair competition in all high school activities."
“LRG has done an excellent job with the NFHS Licensing Program for the past several years,” said Bob Gardner, NFHS executive director. “With its many years of involvement in sports licensing at the high school and college levels, we believe LRG Prep is the perfect fit for managing our Authenticating Mark Program. We look forward to working with LRG Prep in this endeavor.”
For more information about LRG Prep, the NFHS Licensing Program or the Authenticating Mark Program, please contact Tim Sears at LRG.
