2015 #WVUSoccer 3rd Jersey kit launch! Senior captain Jamie Merriam is modeling. @WVUSports pic.twitter.com/K6vP71aouM

— WVU Soccer (WVU) (@WVUMensSoccer) July 15, 2015

Marlon LeBlanc unveiled the third jersey his team will wear this season, and the reviews couldn’t have been better. I have to agree; that’s a really sharp look for any level of soccer, let alone oftentimes unimaginative college apparel. Right away, though, there was a small problem with the kit: People who wanted to buy a jersey can’t. It’s true. Try to find a WVU soccer kit online. You can’t. (At least, not a legitimate one.)

Understand there is an explanation. You aren’t going to see Nike or adidas or UnderArmour get into that line of the business. No one’s doing it and, for now and for the foreseeable future, there isn’t much interest and thus incentive in doing replicas for these small sports. The biggest different between pro sports and college sports and their audiences — even in a market like this in which there is no pro sports team — is consumer habits. College football and basketball don’t do big numbers, even when we’re talking about Pat White or Da’Sean Butler, so imagine the reaction of a school and a partner when asked to turn out some Olympic sports jerseys for players who aren’t overly promoted or recognized.

To me, and to others, this is sort of sad. Think parents might be buying their young daughter a gold Kadeisha Buchanan jersey? Might your co-worker wear that WVU baseball camo? I’ll be honest: I’d wear one of these new soccer tops. But they and we are a minority. For now, schools mostly lack the resources to produce and distribute (and we’re talking about coming out with enough to have this make sense), and that deflates the possibility that programs could do this — through camps, for example, and not just in team shops — to offset costs or push back against budget concerns or simply make some money they could use under their roofs.

“To this point there has not been a licensee express interest in bringing a replica jersey to retail,” said Matt Wells, WVU’s associate athletic director for external affairs, who oversees sports marketing and sponsorship and apparel agreements. “Similar to how we worked with a licensee on a baseball replica jersey this past season, we are always open to exploring our options should the opportunity present itself.”