In the past few months, the winds of change have been sweeping through the corporate sponsorship side of college athletics. No longer are schools wanting to be 1 of 100. Schools, and specifically athletic departments, want to be the 1 of 1 or 1 of a select few. With a marketplace that is changing quickly due to the huge increases in TV dollars, Licensing and Athletics Rights Fees, schools really need to have a good understanding of their value and options as they determine their next move.

Recently, we saw Kentucky choose JMI Sports for a guarantee of $210 million dollars over fifteen years. Last week, Arizona State announced it was not only terminating its contract with IMG, but it was suing the company for money owed as part of the former agreement. In other cases this year, Nebraska and Syracuse sign extensions or renewed agreements for significant increases in guarantees. It’s just the latest example of this ever-shifting marketplace and athletic directors recognizing an opportunity to optimize their value now.

As athletic directors continue to look to find the best value for their school, the importance of knowing what you are worth becomes greater. Many Athletic Directors are starting to recognize the opportunity that exists with bringing their athletic rights internally and starting to do the comparative analysis of which model most benefits the school (in-house vs outsource). While a variety of factors unique to each individual school must be considered, generally the two best reasons to do this go internal 1) the department keeps 100% of the revenue, and 2) the school maintains control.  

Along with this shift to going internal comes new opportunities for the school. One of those opportunities is the chance to align stakeholders on campus (athletic department, alumni association, student services, etc.) to create landmark campus-wide partnerships for brands. These deals can be enormous when compared to an athletics only deal and it will be interesting to see which schools recognize and act on this game changing opportunity.

Interested in learning more about campus-wide sponsorships? Click here to check out our free webinar on the topic.