The NCAA filed a trademark Wednesday for the phrase “Battle in the Bubble.”
According to The Action Network, the NCAA has filed the trademark hoping to use it as the name for future tournaments, including basketball, and for future merchandise.
The filing to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office was made on Aug. 26, as confirmed by Josh Gerben of Gerben Law Firm on Twitter.
The NCAA openly mentioned the possibility of a bubble for sporting events before. Mark Emmert, the NCAA president, told The Big Ten Network’s Andy Katz in an interview earlier this month that bubbles would be “perfectly viable in many sports.” Emmert acknowledged the idea would be expensive, but the NCAA did not want to attempt any format that could put student-athletes at risk.
This is not the first example of a sports league attempting to trademark some variation of the word “bubble.” The WNBA filed a trademark for the phrase “Wubble” Aug. 5 after players like Breanna Stewart, forward for the Seattle Storm, began tweeting the phrase as a play on the NBA’s bubble system in Orlando.
The trademark would join other NCAA-owned phrases such as “March Madness,” “Final Four” and “History Happens Here,” among others.
Follow Ryan Haley on Twitter @ryan_dhaley.
The Action Network reported Monday that the NCAA filed to trademark the phrase "Battle in the Bubble." Earlier this month, Mark Emmert, the NCAA president, was quoted saying bubbles would be “perfectly viable in many sports."
Ryan Haley, a UF journalism senior with a sports & media specialization from Jacksonville, Florida, is Summer 2022's Engagement Managing Editor. He grew up playing a bunch of different sports before settling on golf, following Rory McIlroy and all Philadelphia sports teams. He also loves all things fiction, reading, watching shows and movies and talking about whatever current story or character is in his head.
