Selling
Taking Sponsorship In House Raises Revenues For Georgetown
Working directly with prospective partners on tailored packages pays off for school’s athletics program.
7/9/07: In the two years since taking back its sponsorship sales rights from an agency, Georgetown University’s athletics department has seen sponsorship revenue more than double, including a 65 percent jump this past school year.
The university attributes that success to offering both tailored packages as well as inventory beyond its high profile men’s basketball program, an asset it says its former agency representative–Nelligan Sports Marketing–focused on.
“We knew we were bucking the trend of schools outsourcing sponsorship, but we felt like we were underutilizing our assets,” said Kyle Ragsdale, Georgetown’s associate athletics director for external affairs.
Case in point: The university has secured a new partnership with Verizon Communications, Inc. that includes broadcasts of Hoya football games and men’s and women’s lacrosse matches on its fledgling FiOS1, the company’s first owned TV channel, available to subscribers of the FiOS IPTV service in Northern Virginia and parts of Maryland.
Taking ownership of sponsorship rights has allowed the school to establish closer and more frequent contact with sponsors and prospective partners, Ragsdale noted.
It also gives staff the ability to create agreements that take advantage of their familiarity with the workings of the school and their contacts within other departments and the administration–an ability agency personnel would not have, Ragsdale said.
For example, in
renewing and expanding Georgetown’s partnership with RCN Corp. athletics department personnel negotiated a deal that not only includes a cash fee, but also offers reduced costs for the university’s telephone and data services provided by RCN.
Additionally, the new sponsorship also grants RCN a tie to a spring basketball gala, a program that delivers targeted visibility in front of local business owners.
Georgetown’s sponsorship strategy has been embraced by the university’s president, a factor that the school highlights in its communications with prospective sponsors.
“We tell potential partners the level of commitment that the university has behind our efforts,” Ragsdale said.
Selling sponsorship in house rather than through a third party allows prospects to see that the people who will be responsible for servicing and fulfilling the sponsorship have a “passion for the school, and that has resonated with partners,” Ragsdale said.
Dan O’Neil, sponsorship director, heads the university’s three-person sponsorship department.
Customized Packages Draw Sponsor Interest
The department has secured new partners by offering tailored sponsorships that target specific audiences.
“We focus on who potential partners are trying to reach, whether that is students, university employees or alumni,” Ragsdale said.
For example, Georgetown secured a new partnership with AOL LLC by creating a promotion that touted the Internet service provider’s UnCut Video service to Georgetown students. The service–AOL’s answer to YouTube–allows for the uploading and sharing of video clips.
The January-through-March Hoya Rival Reels contest offered students the opportunity to create videos that featured Georgetown’s Big East Conference basketball rivalries. AOL and the school chose one winner to receive a trip to New York City for the Big East Men’s Basketball Championship presented by Aeropostale.
Georgetown promoted the contest through email blasts, posters and fliers, as well as through the Hoya Web site.
The school broadcast the clips on the video boards at the Verizon Center during men’s home basketball’s games, said O’Neil, who plans to roll out the program earlier in the season for the upcoming school year.
The university also offers sponsorship packages that provide access to its alumni. For example, accounting firm Beers & Cutler PLLC sponsored pre-game events for members of the Hoya Hoop Club booster group.
Other new sponsors that have signed deals over the past year include Dick’s Sporting Goods, Inc.; O’Reilly Automotive, Inc.; StubHub, Inc.; and United HealthCare Services, Inc.
Sources
Georgetown University, Tel: 202/687-2435