Washington definitely isn't Penn State with the latest unveiling, a white helmet with texture resembling frost. This was one of nine samples Washington examined with Hydro Graphics before deciding on the winter theme.
But the Frost helmet was not the most expensive, in part because the school didn't have to buy new helmets. It painted over helmets it already had.
With $65 for the paint job and $35 for the facemask design, that's $11,000 for 110 helmets.
The biggest cost, however, was the satin gold helmet. The 140 Riddell Speed helmets cost $300 a piece, or $42,000 for a batch of 140, plus $14,700 for the paint job and facemasks, equaling $56,700.
That works out to $67,700 for both helmets.
Washington was able to save on the back end because it can re-use helmets that are new enough to meet safety requirements.
"You can spend a lot of money or you could spend not so much," Fullmer said.
Helmet Flip
Baylor's successful chrome helmets last season, courtesy of HGI, ran about $600-$700 apiece, according to Bears assistant equipment director Brett Bufton. That's roughly $65,000 for 100 helmets -- and just for the design.
But Baylor had an idea for offsetting costs.
"We wanted to make it worthwhile, so we put them together on a $2,000 price tag for donors -- $700 to replace helmet, $1,300 to our Linebacker Club that directly benefits the football program."
The school sold all 100 to its donor base, Bufton said. That was the easy part. Donors kept asking about the helmets after the Bears debuted them in a 73-42 win over West Virginia on Oct. 5.
For those counting at home, that's $130,000 in straight profit for the Linebacker Club. Bufton recalls the money went to player benefits such as locker room enhancements and helmet replacements.
The sale was a special occasion for Baylor, which has had several different helmets in rotation over a multiyear span: traditional gold, matte black, matte green, traditional white and chrome.
But no doubt the chrome "helped feed into the excitement of the season," Bufton said.
Mississippi State took a similar approach, selling the Egg Bowl helmets for $600 a piece.
"Sold out in a half-hour," Stricklin said.
Even with an effective sell-back plan, creativity can fuel unnecessary costs. Besides, Fullmer says, though recruits love the helmets, players don't want to fit a new chinstrap every week.
"I think some schools are starting to say, 'We have to keep an eye on this, we can't go too crazy on this,'" Fullmer said. "It's a budgetary thing."
