Even though the
Outside of budget cuts or, as the department showed last week, team cuts, there has been little mention of the efforts taken by the athletic department to salvage it finances. One particular source of revenue, though, has not gotten serious consideration: selling the naming rights to UMass athletic venues.
At first glance, this wouldn’t seem viable for a college program in a slumping economy. However, UMass would be far from the first to make this move.
Last month,
Hey. Where can we get some of that?
At a school where Coca-Cola controls our drinks and the majority of our athletes wear adidas, taking another step in selling out for the sake of the athletic department is a small concession.
According to athletic director John McCutcheon, the athletic venues at UMass, which include the
“There have typically been donations in the past and been permanent naming rights associated with new facilities,” McCutcheon said. “It’s a little different with existing facilities, putting a name on that. But it has a lot to do with a percentage of the construction cost.”
However, Mullins and McGuirk are far from beloved names for UMass students. We don’t have a Cameron Indoor, a Rose Bowl or a Palestra. This isn’t a knock on the buildings themselves, just the lack of fondness for either place’s history amongst the student body. Let’s face it, if students came back next year and the
Selling naming rights would be a good move for UMass athletics as an additional source of revenue. The only drawback is the obvious: the school would appear to be selling out while losing a tribute to someone who was important to the introduction to the building.
This is true. But how many students on campus actually know who Mullins was? There is little chance that a corporate sponsor would get any sort of resistance.
Getting such a deal, however, is no simple task for the athletic department.
“If you’re talking about a corporate sponsorship like you see at many public facilities, there aren’t really specific guidelines to that,” McCutcheon said. “But those would most likely be associated with a term of a number of years and if we wanted to enter into something like that, the sponsorship would have to be fairly significant.”
Todd McDonald, the assistant athletic director and head of marketing for UMass athletics, echoed McCutcheon’s stance. He said that a sponsor would have to produce “a significant dollar amount and a multi-year agreement.”
Another hurdle for this type of deal is the current agreements on some of the school’s buildings. According to McDonald, the opportunity to change the naming rights for the Mullins Center is not available, as the building’s name is “locked up.”
This is especially unfortunate because, of all of the buildings on campus that aren’t a 26-story library, the Mullins Center is the most marketable and visible as it hosts multiple major sports and features a number of concerts.
Beyond the availability of any of the buildings, though, UMass is yet to get a major offer for naming rights on a building.
“We haven’t been approached by anybody. It’s more the University reaching out and trying to get someone involved in that kind of situation,” McCutcheon said.
If that’s the case, then it’s time to put this baby on the block and shop it. Even if the
For example, the
Even if UMass can’t get a major deal like some of the elite programs in the country, a few hundred thousand thrown here and there can make a major difference in the department.
It could be enough for, let’s say, a ski team.
Nick O’Malley is a Collegian columnist. He can be reached at nomalley@student.umass.edu.
Sure, name the softball complex thats not named after anyone as far as im aware. Or get some corporate sponsors to put logos on the ice. We have room, we can paint them. We have put stickers on our court for sponsors before. Why not make them permanent. Put up more signs around the Mullins. We could really use some sort of scrolling sign out by the building rather than way over by the softball stadium. Who drives on that road on a daily basis? Its so far out of the way.