A private equity infusion is only the beginning. To thrive in a new era of college sports, Utah must monetize its most valuable real estate and tradition.
The Utah Utes have made headlines recently for becoming the first in college sports to finalize an independent private equity deal with Otro Capital. Many outsiders have called the $500 million agreement a high-risk, high-reward transaction that could make or break what's happening in Salt Lake City.
“We’re excited about this deal,” Utah Athletic Director Mark Harlan recently told KSL Sports. “We’ve been working on it for three years.”
While there's optimism among those directly aligned with the deal, others are still on the fence about the future of the Utes athletic programs. Not to say this couldn't be one of the best moves of Harlan's tenure, but the jury is still out.
“Yes, there’s upfront capital that’s coming into us,” Harlan added. “But the most important thing that I’m focused on is how we can obviously figure out the different ways to combine the university’s overall corporate program along with licensing, concessions — all the things that really weren’t a part of athletics — now all coming together with our revenue streams and our revenue staff.”
With this said by Harlan, now is the time for Utah to be non-traditional. Especially, after his latest comment about the state of the Utes, saying that sold-out football games and record fundraising couldn't save Utah. That's right. Getting people in the stands and putting more money than ever on the book wasn't a life raft in this scenario. Like Harlan added, "doing nothing" wasn't an option.
So here we are in this new era of college athletics. As one college basketball figurehead said to me recently, "Once athletic departments realize they're now a marketing arm of the institutions they represent, it's all about mining for gold." Right now, Harlan and his staff must be willing to put everything on the table from jersey patches to stadium naming rights.
Being scared to make money never amounted to success for anyone. Rice-Eccles Stadium is ingrained in the school's history for the two names it represents. But times have most certainly changed since 1997, and it's time to think big. At the very least, the field should be renamed. Intermountain Health Field at Rice-Eccles Stadium has a nice ring to it.
The same logic with jersey patches could be applied without reworking a part of the school's tradition. One of the most valuable pieces of real estate is being able to offer a commercial advertisement right on the upper left-hand side of what the players wear. This is spread across all programs and would rake in millions of dollars. What company wouldn't want their logo front and center across the broadcasts? Not to mention all the highlights and photos out there days after the game had ended.
Two easy ways to boost revenue without doing much heavy lifting. There are obviously other non-traditional ways out there being thought about right now. However, if the Utes roll into another football season after accepting half-a-billion dollars without thinking like an NFL team, it would be a serious miss.
