According to this tweet from a MTSU guy, the AAC has been in contact with us:
https://mobile.twitter.com/C_Austin_Cox/status/759095448539897856
According to this tweet from a MTSU guy, the AAC has been in contact with us:
https://mobile.twitter.com/C_Austin_Cox/status/759095448539897856
Here are the notes I made from Hale's interview with a Lafayette radio station around the time he wasn't hired for the Ragin Cajun Athletic Foundation Executive Director position. He gave a very good blueprint for UL-Lafayette to build up their athletic department and the Ragin' Cajuns have completely ignored it. These notes were targeted to Lafayette, but a lot could also be applied to Louisiana Tech.
These were posted on the Hall of Fame Board a few weeks ago.
Interview Notes:
How to add value to the product:
High profile championship coaches (lead, recruit, win championships, represent the university) and elite student athletes (best on-campus recruiters, marketing people of the university) will create the facilities (support services, life skills taught, former student athletes will represent school on and off the field).
You can’t value engineer a scholarship. A strategic plan needs to be created to deal with the cost of attendance and the “marketing value” of student athletes.
In terms of fundraising numbers, prosperity is not a set number.
National branding = perception. Think beyond Louisiana.
You can do a lot of things to enhance how people see you. We gotta be important in Seattle, Orlando, etc. If so, we will be important in Mobile.
It is so easy to get your message out today. If you are the best kept secret, then it is a shame that you are a secret.
Who you are associated with goes into who you are grouped with. From the original merger of the Sun Belt and the American South Conferences, there are only 2 teams left. Central Florida, FAU, FIU, Louisiana Tech, and Western Kentucky moved on because others desired them. The Sun Belt Conference has a limited footprint and scheduling opportunities.
Fundraising…
Go back to the value of the product. Build the foundation. Diversity of revenue streams is important. You normally work off the alumni database. Athletics is not limited to that database. Must have cause-related marketing that makes sense.
Everything has to be interactive. E-philanthropy is huge. RCAF (UL-Lafayette athletic foundation) website has no reason to stay (must have interaction, mutual benefit that makes sense).
The biggest revenue increase is media rights fees…but not for much longer. We will see things being scaled back. Disney may be direct-to-consumer like Netflix and HBO To Go. There will be a whole different world in 2026. The Southwest Conference had no negotiating power with the media. The Big XII has no network and is on the outside looking in.
In 2014, the NCAA granted the Power Five Conferences autonomy over rules, financial boundaries. There is a separation developing. The P5 Conferences are pooling their resources together and have carved out their niche. It’s all about program association. In less than five years, it will be the haves and have nots.
Media rights fees have exploded in the last 10-15 years (where money is in the future). All digital broadcast rights, not just television. Who are you associated with?
Karl Benson believes that if the Sun Belt Champion runs the table, they will be in the College Football Playoff. They will not be close.
Louisiana Tech does have a national impression. Terry Bradshaw, among other reasons.
Accomplishment/fundraising…
The annual operating budget of the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama is $3 million. They have a $500,000 profit each year. Charitable donations include $1 million to the Red Cross for hurricane-related activities, $1 million+ to the Children’s Miracle Network within footprint (purpose and a plan)…hospital in Birmingham, Mobile, and Jackson, shark attack victims, pediatric ambulances, new entrance for children’s hospital.
The Senior Bowl had no fundraising database. They had to create one. Their database determined the value of the project, interest, and deliver. Pledges = “not real money”
Everyone needs to send the same message. Coordination between athletics, College of Business, Engineering, Liberal Arts, etc.
Athletics is the vehicle which can deliver university mission to everyone.
Arizona State = created athletic infrastructure, roughly $400-$500 million commitment.
How can we tie this to the academic side of the university?
Promote university mission using athletics.
Florida State = look at how university academia is related at stadium.
LGBT groups ask Big 12 to eschew BYU:
http://www.foxsports.com/college-football/story/25-lgbt-groups-send-letter-to-big-12-urging-it-to-shun-byu-080816