ROGERS — Daisy Outdoor Sports is targeting a new customer with the Razorback Red Ryder BB gun.
The 126-year-old company is partnering with the University of Arkansas on the newly released product featuring the Razorback mascot on the stock.
“We are Razorback supporters and are always looking for something unique,” said Ray Hobbs, president and chief executive officer of Daisy.
Daisy and university officials kicked off sales of the BB gun Tuesday at the Rogers Daisy Airgun Museum.
Brian Pracht, associate athletics director for marketing and licensing at the University of Arkansas, said the partnership was a natural fit.
“We expect this to be a big seller,” he said.
The Razorback Red Ryder is sold exclusively through the museum and its website and costs $59.95. Buyers can pay an additional $19.95 to have a name and class year laser engraved into the gun’s forearm.
Proceeds will help fund the museum.
Rogers city officials established the museum in 1999 and the company took over running it in 2004.
Daisy started selling BB guns in 1886 in Plymouth, Mich., and moved to Rogers in 1958.
Sporting the Razorback brand requires university approval and companies must go through the Collegiate Licensing Company.
“We are very protective of our marketing,” Pracht said. “This is definitely a one-ofa-kind product.”
He said the University of Arkansas has more than 550 licensees with products ranging from apparel to knickknacks.
“We get a percentage of the wholesale price and it goes back to the university,” he said, adding that the standard royalty is 10 percent.
Hobbs said the royalty is built into the sales price.
Matt Bartholomew, of Lamar, Mo., purchased the first Razorback Red Ryder shortly after the BB gun was unveiled. He was in town for business Tuesday; he handles Daisy’s benefits through Allstate.
“I bought the gun for my wife. She graduated from the UA in 1993 and will be excited,” he said. “Plus being the first person to buy one is special.”
Bartholomew is from Prairie Grove and said he’s owned several Red Riders over the years.
“I had one of the early versions, and my dad still has them with his expensive guns,” he said.
The Rogers Daisy Airgun Museum is at 202 West Walnut St., and is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Its website is daisymuseum.com.
Business, Pages 25 on 12/05/2012