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'College GameDay' And The Promotional Power Of College Sports: The Central Florida Case Study

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They may not win the college football national championship this year (or ever, given the current playoff format in college football), but the University of Central Florida (UCF) won more than just a football game this past Saturday.

They won exposure.

They won brand recognition.

And only time will tell if these wins eventually translate into more alumni giving, a more academically-impressive student body, and an eventual invitation to a more lucrative athletic conference.

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Timely that ESPN's "College GameDay" visited Orlando and UCF on Saturday, November 17th. My Sports Business course at Washington University in St. Louis is currently discussing the business of college athletics, and we recently reviewed an article featuring a professional consulting report by two of America's top sports economists (Rascher's and Schwarz's 2015 cost/benefit analysis of the UAB football program) which cited both academic research and anecdotal evidence of ways in which a successful college athletics program (or individual team within the program) could generate various benefits for a university. These ways include:

  • Increase in applications, which means the university can be more selective if they wish...which boosts the academic quality of the school because the overall level of incoming freshman is stronger;
  • Increase in alumni donations, both because of greater brand awareness (stemming from increased exposure) and greater brand affinity (derived from greater pride in a successful program);
  • Increase in media coverage, which creates greater brand awareness...and is arguably even more valuable today in the Twitter and Instagram world in which we live.

And while not discussed in the Rascher/Schwarz report, I'll add another. How about an increase in the odds of receiving a future invitation to join a more lucrative conference?

When conferences expand, they prefer larger markets with schools that at least possess a strong football or men's basketball program. Large markets are especially attractive to conferences which have their own conference TV network, as larger markets mean more eyeballs. And more eyeballs mean more ad dollars.

Given Orlando's market size and the football program's recent successes (including their current and nation's longest football win streak of 23 games), UCF would be an attractive option should one of the Power 5 BCS conferences of Division I seek further expansion. These conferences are not necessarily looking to expand at present, but at least UCF places itself on the short list of future conversations if/when those conversations transpire.

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So when you consider that "College GameDay" has been taking place every Saturday morning since 1987, and when you consider that the show had been to 71 different schools and 83 different cities over the years...but never Orlando or UCF until this past Saturday, and when you consider the cultural phenomenon the show and its hosts have become, you realize that the media value associated with a 3-hour nationally televised and popular show can be quite palpable.

Yes, the UCF Knights may run the table with an undefeated record in back-to-back seasons...and still not get an invitation to the coveted and lucrative College Football Playoffs.

And while such an omission may or may not cause the college football powers to reconsider the current 4-team format in order to allow schools outside the Power 5 to have a shot for future CFP inclusion, the one thing the CFP committee or the Power 5 schools can't deny UCF is the tremendous visibility, exposure, and brand recognition the university has generated for itself over the last two years.

Benefits which will undoubtedly have spin-off impacts on the school's future academic quality, levels of alumni giving, and increased media exposure.

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