Victor E. Viking is in demand. In fact, he is so in demand that Northern Kentucky University is thinking about cloning him.

Because Victor, the official mascot of NKU, cannot be in two different places at the same time, NKU is considering buying a new suit and have had tryouts for a student to play the role of the second mascot.

According to Assistant Athletic Director for Marketing and Event Management Christopher Hafling, the decision on whether or not to purchase an additional mascot suit has not been finalized, but is being strongly considered.

“I have been at NKU a little over three years, and the requests for Victor E. Viking to appear at events have continued to grow,” Hafling said. “So far during the 2010-11 year, Victor has appeared at over 50 different events. There have been more than double that many requests for Victor to appear.”

According to Hafling, with only one suit available, there are many times when NKU could not fulfill all of the requests and have made decisions between sending Victor out to a community event or keeping him on campus.

They would like to be able to get Victor out to as many events as possible, both on campus and off campus.

“A second suit will give us much more exposure at various community and campus events, and it could also help to generate some more revenue,” Hafling said.

In terms of revenue, Hafling explains how beneficial Victor is for campus and community events.

“Mascot suits are quite expensive, but in some ways they can be revenue-generating,” Hafling said. “We are still getting some quotes and so forth, but it looks like it is in the range of $8,000-$10,000 for a second suit of an already-completed original mascot.”

He explained that often mascots are paid for community appearances, and those funds could offset the cost of purchasing a new suit.

If NKU makes the decision to purchase another suit, Hafling says that there are several companies that produce mascot suits and they will have to look at all of them. The company that made the original Victor E. Viking suit would be seriously considered in order to maintain an identical look between the two suits.

Story by Stephen Wilder