Why experts say Coach Prime “pays for himself” at CU, despite $29.5-million, 5-year contract
In less than nine months, Sanders has CU ranked among the national top 25. In merchandise sales.
The Front Porch Effect + The Prime Effect = Profit
The “Front Porch” concept is the idea that football is the most influential, forward-facing public-relations arm of not just the athletic department, but the university as a whole. Combine that with adding Sanders as the new face of Buffs athletics, and suddenly the sight of a rampaging Ralphie in black and gold has zoomed from a quaint, regional image of a 1-11 football program to one of the hottest brands in American sports.
“(CU) is a major economic engine for the city and contributes to the local, state and regional economies in a number of ways. Although it is a little early to know, we hope the hiring of Deion Sanders as head coach of the university’s football program will have a positive impact on Boulder’s economy,” Jennifer Pinsonneault, Boulder’s community vitality senior program manager, said via an e-mailed statement.
Per CU data, athletic department royalty revenue for the 2022-23 fiscal year that ended July 1 was at $1.99 million. University officials told The Post that 29% of that stemmed from Coach Prime/Buffs “co-branded” merchandise, which comes out to roughly $580,300 over approximately seven months of sales.
Buffs administrators said that 12% of revenue from the co-branded merch goes to Sanders, while 12% goes to the university.
Meanwhile, football season tickets sold out at a record pace. As of Aug. 2, the Buffs had sold 22,457 season tickets and 11,600 available student sports passes. The latter are expected to sell out once the remaining passes are made available Aug. 15.
Individual football tickets are available, though — for now. As of this past Wednesday, the Nebraska and Stanford games were completely sold out, CU officials said, while only 3,500 tickets each remained for home games with CSU (Sept. 16) and USC (Sept. 30).
CU declined to release specific data on NIL metrics compared to 2021 and ’22. But, according to estimates of individual student NIL “value” by the web site On3.com, CU is now home to the sixth- and ninth-ranked potential earners in the country in defensive back/wideout Travis Hunter (No. 6, at an estimated $1.5 million) and quarterback Shedeur Sanders (No. 9, at $1.3 million), the son of CU’s new coach.
