Supplies for Team Mascots

Mascots are an essential feature for every team, from professional leagues to high schools. They offer entertainment to the fans, contribute to the team's revenue with merchandise sales and also act as a point of reference; dinosaurs, for example, will instantly make an NBA fan think of the Toronto Raptors. Mascots must be individual, not imitating or closely resembling another known mascot, but the basic supplies for all mascots are more or less common.

  1. Suit

    • A mascot can be either a human character, such as Lucky of the Boston Celtics, or an animal character or supernatural creature, like T.D. of the Miami Dolphins and Big Red of the Arizona Cardinals. For human characters, you just need the appropriate clothes for your human figure and accessories such as wigs and masks. Animal and supernatural characters will need full costumes, covering all human features of the performers.

    Team Apparel

    • Apart from any team gear that mascots may hold during matches, team apparel, such as jerseys, shorts or even football and hockey helmets, is very important. Without the right outfit, the mascot is nothing more than an ordinary animal or person, despite its special design. To avoid changing the apparel to the mascot every time the jersey design is changed, you can use the team's distinct colors, along with the logo or the team's initials.

    Accessories

    • A mascot can excite fans merely by walking past the bleachers, but a variety of accessories and dancing sequences can really lift the crowd. Accessories can include flags, horns and cheerleaders' pom-poms. Mascots in professional leagues, like the NBA, might use scooters, bikes and flaming rings, but these are only for special occasions and shouldn't be considered standard mascot supplies.

    Gifts for Fans

    • Mascots often offer gifts to fans, such as small flags, plush toys depicting themselves or other team memorabilia. The mascot can hand out items in the stands or after photograph sessions with fans. These gifts are cheap, so that they won't eventually drain the team's budget, but are a major incentive for fans to keep coming to the stadium and actively supporting their favorite team. As such, gifts are an important supply for every mascot, especially in the professional leagues.