Team Logos Step Up To State License Plate

Dodgers’ fans and other L.A. sports junkies may soon be able to get license plates with the logos of their favorite teams.

Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, has authored a bill that would allow the state Department of Motor Vehicles to issue license plates with logos of the state’s collegiate and professional sports teams.

The plates would cost $100 initially and renew for $80 a year, with the revenues going towards Title IX women’s sports programs at colleges and universities.

Levine’s bill passed the Assembly late last month and now moves to the state Senate. If it passes, the first sports license plates could be on cars by the end of next year.

Before the DMV starts making a license for a particular team (the actual assembling of license plates is done mostly by state prisoners), they must receive 7,500 applications for that team.

“Sure, that may be a high barrier for small college sports teams,” said Levine spokesman Stuart Waldman. “But that’s the threshold we need in order for this program to be revenue-neutral.”

The bill was also revenue neutral for the teams and schools that owned the logos, generally a lucrative income source.

“We believe the bill will be amended in the state Senate to allow a portion of the funds raised to go to a team’s non-profit foundation,” Waldman said.

Howard Fine