We all know that Varsity Brands is a giant in the American campus sports world, and it almost monopolizes the entire cheerleading industry. More than 90% of cheerleading competitions are held by Varsity Brands, and all the clothing and equipment of the participating teams are purchased from Varsity Brands' brands. Varsity Brands also owns cheerleading training camps, gyms, and even streaming services. Parents who want to watch their children's game videos must become members. It can be said that it covers the entire industry chain. However, such a behemoth has not been listed for more than 50 years.
Let's first learn about the development history of this company. Before talking about Varsity Brands, we have to talk about a person, that is Lawrence Russell Herkimer, the father of modern cheerleading. Herkie cheerleading jump is named after him. He was a cheerleader and gave up his job as a teacher to devote himself to cheerleading training. He also founded the first cheerleading association with far-reaching influence and used it to develop large-scale events. The National Spirit Group was also established. Jeff Weber, the founder of Varsity Brands, was once a cheerleader at the University of Oklahoma. After graduating from college, he worked at the National Spirit Group. It was this experience working at the National Spirit Group that had a huge impact on Jeff Weber's subsequent career. In 1976, Weber founded his own company, Varsity Spirit (the predecessor of Varsity Brands). Varsity Spirit imitated the National Spirit Group and founded the World Cheerleading Association as an organization, and then held college and high school cheerleading competitions across the United States, and then made profits by selling clothing, ribbons and other items used in the competition.
Varsity Spirit acquired all major competitors step by step through a series of acquisitions. It was not until 2004 that Varsity Spirit acquired Weber's former company, National Spirit Group. At that time, the company had about a quarter of the US cheerleading market. Through this acquisition, combined with its original market share, Varsity Spirit established its position as the industry leader. So far, Varsity Spirit has been the helmsman of the cheerleading giant ship. On the road ahead, it started large-scale mergers and acquisitions. Today, 90% of cheerleading competitions in the United States are held by Varsity Brands. In addition, the USASF initiated and founded by Varsity Brands is now the main management organization of the American cheerleading movement. Although there are other brands and companies in the market as alternatives to Varsity Brands, such as Adidas, Nike, ASICS, Mizuno, etc., which provide a variety of cheerleading clothing and equipment. But the impact on varsity is minimal. I once started a post on the forum about how to view varisty's monopoly on cheerleading competitions, and received three answers: 1. More and more institutions and companies have begun to open cheerleading gyms and clinics in a small range.
2. Although varsity is expensive, the competition scene is shocking, and the competition is bigger and more influential. It is worth the money.
3. I don't believe anyone can overthrow varsity.
At this point I already have an answer in my mind. I know that varsity not only monopolizes the cheerleading business, but also captures people's eyes and hearts. I can't comment on whether this situation is good or bad for cheerleading. I don't know who else can do better than varsity. I hope that one day another young person will stand up and sit at the negotiation table.
