April 1, 2010
Football Brings Excitement & Opportunity to Lamar University
The rebirth of the football program at Lamar University has brought forward a number of advancement opportunities. While the team has yet to play a game, the excitement which surrounds football is changing the giving culture of alumni and local businesses.
The decision by Lamar University President Dr. James Simmons to bring football back is a critical step for the future of Lamar. The addition has attracted students, created interest in the athletics programs and is a stimulant for the university and surrounding community.
Lamar has received a number of lead gifts earmarked for the program. To date, the University has received more than $7.5 million in private funds to help offset the costs of restarting the football program. In addition, Lamar is working with other donors to finalize gifts which will increase that total.
"It’s very clear to all of us that we would not be talking about football if it wasn’t for the wonderful support we’ve received from our friends, donors and alumni from this region and across the state," said President Simmons. "Some wonderful people have stepped in to help us get to the total we needed to make it possible."
The excitement surrounding football can also be seen in Lamar athletics’ corporate partnership program. With the increased recognition, more and more local businesses have contacted Lamar inquiring about sponsorship.
"Every meeting I have with an existing or potential sponsor begins with the question, ‘How can I be a part of the football program?’" said Greg Treml, coordinator for development and corporate relations. "There definitely is a high level of excitement which can be felt."
The goal of Lamar’s corporate relations program is to raise additional revenue to help subsidize the expense of running its programs. The addition of football has proven to be a catalyst for generating interest in not only football, but Lamar’s other programs as well. Coincidently, during the 2009-2010 sponsorship year, every one of Lamar’s ticketed sports saw increases in sponsorship dollars.
"As I planned our sponsorship sales program for 2009-10 and now for 2010-11, I wanted to focus our efforts on building relationships with partners who not only supported football, but also supported our athletics department as a whole," said Treml. "Football will be our marquee sponsorship program. It will be the one everyone asks about first, but there are 11 other programs that need financial assistance too."
One of the ways Lamar is ensuring that its other sports, especially women’s programming, will continue to receive sponsorship dollars is by requiring football sponsors to be involved with another sport. The amount of the ancillary sponsorship is a percentage based off of the amount spent on the football sponsorship. It is a much smaller amount, but it still helps and gives credibility to Lamar’s other programs.
"Lamar is not a self-funded athletics department and in this economy, we don’t want to turn financial support away. However, we want to capitalize on the exposure we are getting from and for football to enhance our other programs as well," said Treml. "We have not received many critical responses to this. Once given the reasoning behind the decision, our sponsors have been more than happy to either reallocate a portion of their sponsorship to the ancillary program or increase their total sponsorship to contain the needed amount."
The re-establishment of the football program has provided other unique opportunities for Lamar athletics. In preparation for the inaugural 2010 season, Lamar worked with Rickabaugh Graphics to enhance the consistency of its existing athletics marks and develop new secondary marks. The resulting work will be released to the public on April 10 at the Spring Football Game and football reunion weekend.
"When I came to Lamar, one of the things I noticed right away was that we had some great looking marks. However, they didn’t have a consistent look to them. Our cardinal head logo and the interlocking LU monogram each had a number of variations and our secondary marks did not have the same look and feel as our primary marks," said Treml. "Our goal in working with Rickabaugh Graphics was to develop a set of marks which utilized the unique features of our cardinal head logo and consistently represented those features in our complete set of marks. The resulting marks look great. They have clean lines and simple colors, making them easy to reproduce in print and on merchandise and include a number of variations which make them easily adaptable to different applications. Above all, they are distinct to Lamar and communicate a consistent look for the future of our athletics programs."
During the rebranding process, Lamar also entered into an agreement with Strategic Marketing Affiliates (SMA) to manage its intellectual property rights. The partnership provides Lamar University access to SMA’s brand development, protection and revenue generation services while enhancing the university’s brand recognition and increasing the availability of licensed merchandise. "SMA has been a great fit for Lamar University Athletics," says Treml. "Our partnership has helped Cardinals Athletics improve its market presence through innovative initiatives and enhanced relationships with local and national vendors."
The anticipation and excitement which surrounds the return of football to Lamar is a distinct experience. It has provided the opportunity to elevate our development, sponsorship and licensing programs. It has been a challenge for the university and athletics staffs, but every Lamar employee, fan and booster is looking forward to September 4 when Lamar kicks off for the first time since 1989.
About Greg Treml: Greg is the coordinator of development & corporate relations at Lamar University. He oversees the corporate sponsorship and licensing programs while assisting with stewardship efforts, events and game-day promotions.
Prior to his role at Lamar, Greg spent five years in a variety of sponsorship sales, marketing and fundraising positions with Minnesota State University, the Minnesota Vikings and the Minnesota Wild.
A native of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, Treml earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point. He earned a master’s degree in sports management from Minnesota State University. You can reach Greg by phone at (409) 880-7677 or by e-mail at greg.treml@lamar.edu.
About Lamar University: A member of the Texas State University System, Lamar University offers 63 undergraduate, 47 master’s and nine doctoral degree programs. The university has 14,000 students enrolled in five academic colleges – Arts and Sciences, Business, Education and Human Development, Engineering, Fine Arts and Communication – and has 70,000 living alumni. Lamar is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. For more information, visit www.Lamar.edu, www.BeACardinal.com or www.LamarCardinals.com.
About Rickabaugh Graphics: Founded in 1986, Rickabaugh Graphics has won nearly 200 awards for design excellence and has a reputation as one of the nation's top design firms. The firm has been specializing in collegiate branding for 20 years and in that time has developed over 500 collegiate logos for clients such as Ohio State, Wisconsin, Baylor, Texas, Central Florida, NC State and UConn. More information about Rickabaugh Graphics can be found at www.rickabaughgraphics.com.
About Strategic Marketing Affiliates: Founded in 1997, Strategic Marketing Affiliates, Inc. (SMA) is a full-service licensing agency that has quickly grown to become a leader in the collegiate marketplace. SMA currently represents over 140 universities, colleges, and athletic conferences nationwide. The Indianapolis (IN) based SMA team combines extensive marketing and licensing experience with a forward-thinking attitude in keeping its approach fresh, energetic, and, above all else, effective. For more information on SMA, visit: www.smaworks.com.
