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With baseball Spring Training underway and Little Leagues kicking off across the country, let’s take a minute to talk about creating and selling Major League Baseball, or MLB, products.
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Can Crafters Make and Sell Major League Baseball Products?
If you’ve been around Cutting for Business for any length of time, you’ll know that this is an easy answer: No, crafters cannot make and sell professional baseball related products without a license.
How Can Crafters Get Licensed to Sell MLB Products?
Unlike other professional sports organizations, the MLB does not list their criteria online. Instead, interested parties need to contact them directly for information. I did this, and received a general packet of information and requirements. I asked for permission to share a link to the information, upload it to the blog, or share specifics of the contents – but the MLB said I was unable to do so.
Sooooo, in my opinion and having read through their requirements, it isn’t worth it for a small scale crafter to even reach out to the MLB for licensing information. Sadly, it’s unattainable.
But What About Making Products for My Kid’s Sports Team?
Every year in early spring, I get questions about making baseball related products with professional team logos because your child plays on a Little League team. It makes sense that crafters would want to both support their child’s team and make a few extra dollars selling team gear to other parents.
Unfortunately, crafters can’t make and sell products with professional team logos on them – even if your child plays on a team that uses a professional team’s logo. Why? Because you won’t have a license. In these cases, the Little League organization has a license and agreement with the MLB. That license does not transfer to you.
Instead of using the team’s name or logo, why not consider using generic sports sayings? I’ve got a list of them here. Using generic sayings is a win-win: You can still make and sell gear to other parents – and not get in legal trouble!
Since 2015, Christine Schinagl has been helping crafters start and run craft businesses through her blog, Cutting for Business. As a Silhouette and Cricut crafter herself, she has a unique take on what works and what doesn’t work in the craft business world. She also teaches a course on creating digital SVG designs, available at How to Design SVGs.
Carrie
Thursday 25th of June 2020
Can you share the contact information you used to inquire with the MLB about licencing?
Christine, Cutting for Business
Monday 31st of August 2020
Here is the contact page I started with: https://www.mlb.com/official-information/contact. I emailed them to (eventually) get to the correct department.
Sandy
Monday 2nd of March 2020
Love all your shared knowledge. On the pro baseball shirts... what if I want to make a shirt for me?
Christine, Cutting for Business
Monday 2nd of March 2020
It's still a trademark infringement. Here is more information for you: https://cuttingforbusiness.com/6-trademark-myths-you-have-to-stop-telling-yourself-in-your-craft-business/