We've all seen or heard about actors and singers who have "agents." But, have you heard that universities have agents? Well, many schools do hire agents to help them handle their huge logo and licensing businesses. That was one of the more interesting facts I turned up while reporting the third installment of our series "The Business of College Football."

The Collegiate Licensing Company, or CLC, isn’t a generally well known company, but if you're a university president or a college athletic director, you certainly know the name. CLC acts as an agent for universities and their "brands" -- the logos and mascot images that define that school. Think of Notre Dame's gold-and-green or the University of Florida's orange-and-blue and "gator" mascot and logo. CLC makes sure all the elements of the brand are used properly, helps combat piracy efforts (whether the pirates are Chinese factories or a bunch of frat boys trying to make a buck selling T-shirts after the big game), and counsels schools on how to can best manage their "brand."

Just how important is such brand management? Well, the University of Texas at Austin earned $8 million on its licensing efforts last year. Not bad, when you consider licensing is an industry that most schools barely paid attention to 30 years ago. Through the efforts of CLC and the dollars flowing in from fans' insatiable appetite for university "stuff," the $3-1/2 billion licensing industry is likely to grow even bigger in the future.