Sitting in a booth in Uno's restaurant, Jeff Worsdell and Anthony Bencomo are trying not to sound bitter, but the recent death of their company has left an unpleasant taste in their mouths. They're recounting the demise of Knightmare Apparel, a company built on selling T-shirts, hats and other UCF-emblazoned merchandise.
When the university recently awarded Barnes & Noble the exclusive right to sell UCF merchandise at the Citrus Bowl during home football games, Knightmare Apparel lost its largest source of revenue. The deal ultimately caused Worsdell and Bencomo to decide to close their business; once they've sold all they can of their inventory, they'll shut down their Web site.
The two UCF alumni started Knightmare Apparel five years ago, with the goal of offering UCF fans more options in T-shirts.
"We were tired of what was out there, going to stores and not seeing anything," Bencomo said. "Even the stuff that was out was just bad quality. I wanted to be able to wear something to the two roadtrips we go on every season - I wanted to do something."
And do something they did. The Knightmare Apparel company began with a single shirt sporting the phrase "Knights For Life," which parodied a popular NWO wrestling shirt. It was an idea Bencomo and Worsdell thought fans would like more than traditional T-shirt offerings, and they were right; the fans started snapping them up.
The pair sold the shirts both online at www.knightmareapparel.com and, more prominently, at a table in a Citrus Bowl parking lot during home football games. Soon they not only broke even, but also made a small profit, giving some of that money back to the school.
Apart from paying royalties to UCF for licensing, the two say they donated what they could to the UCF Alumni Association, and had planned on increasing the amount of donations to the school as the company grew.
When they learned that UCF's previous exclusive sports-retailing contract with Knight's Lockerroom had expired, they jumped at the chance to increase their sales with greater stadium access.
"We thought this would be perfect for us, because now UCF would have a whole bunch of vendors there and we could have a variety of people selling, and that would increase the quality of merchandise," Bencomo said. "We started getting excited and asking questions."
While the two built up their expectations, though, UCF's athletic department already was writing a new contract, furthering a lucrative relationship with mega-retailer Barnes & Noble, which owns and operates the UCF Bookstore on campus.
According to Steve Orsini, UCF's athletic director, granting exclusivity contracts is standard practice among universities.
"We wanted to continue the partnership that UCF has with Barnes & Noble - extend it from what currently is in existence at UCF all the way to the Citrus Bowl," Orsini said.
According to Orsini, the only other company that was given an opportunity to bid for the new contract, which grants exclusive rights to sell merchandise at the Citrus Bowl during football games, was Knight's Lockeroom. But even though Knight's Lockeroom previously managed that contract, the company was told early on that its contract would not be renewed.
Barnes & Noble did not return requests for comment for this article.
As negations between Barnes & Noble and UCF went on, Knightmare Apparel was kept in the dark. They were also kept under the illusion that they would be able to make a bid for the contract.
By Worsdell's account he kept contact with UCF for several months, but the school didn't meet with him or return phone calls. Meanwhile, Bencomo and Worsdell poured money into building up their company. Bencomo said they were preparing the company to viably compete for access to the stadium against their competitors.
However, when the pair was finally granted a meeting with Orsini they were told that Knightmare Apparel wouldn't get the contract.
"I sat down with him, showed him my shirts; he loved my shirts and said you guys have a niche and I wish there was something I could do for you," Worsdell said. "I said 'there is something, you can give us a corner, give us something.'"
"It was not an open bidding process," Worsdell continued. "I guess we were ignorant about the manners of business in dealing with UCF." Worsdell said that he and Bencomo were denied any chance of obtaining a contract with UCF to sell within the stadium.
Orsini said the deal was perfectly legal. "I remember meeting with the Knightmare Apparel people," Orsini said. "They asked me if they had a chance to make a bid and I explained the situation to them. We followed the university's purchasing practices and they allowed us to do what we did."
Orsini did make them an offer, though - to sell outside the stadium in the parking lots. To get that privilege, Knightmare would need approval from UCF's sports marking firm, ISP. The firm is responsible for setting up merchandising contracts.
"ISP wanted $1,800 a game," Worsdell said. "That's over 200 shirts per game, and at UCF that's not realistic." Under the ISP deal, Knightmare would have run out of money after just one game, Bencomo said.
In lieu of a fixed fee, Bencomo and Worsdell offered to pay UCF a percentage of their sales. But UCF never responded to their counter offer, they said.
"If you go to UF and walk down the street, there are vendors all around the stadium," Bencomo said. "We thought we could grow into something like a Garnett and Gold, or a Tiger Rag," he said, referring to popular outlets that sell fan apparel at Florida State and Auburn.
The pair said they would love to open up a real shop, and not have to conduct their business from their homes, a parking lot or an Italian restaurant. But with the stadium located so far from campus - across town, just east of Interstate 4 - having a fixed location isn't practical.
When the pair investigated opening a shop on campus, they found out Barnes & Noble had exclusivity rights there too, and the Student Union already had a store with those rights, too.
"This has really left a sour taste in my mouth," Bencomo said. "But if there's a fair chance that we could really get into [the Citrus Bowl], then I'd give it a shot because I love UCF."
Their next shot will be a year from now, when the new Barnes & Noble contract expires.
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