The Univ. of Washington and Seattle-based Alaska Airlines "have again partnered on a naming-rights deal for one of the university’s venerable athletic facilities," as the school's football venue will "be dubbed Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium," according to Adam Jude of the SEATTLE TIMES. UW said that the deal "is worth" $41M over 10 years, "making it the largest deal of its kind in college athletics." More than half of Alaska Airlines’ investment "is earmarked directly for student-athlete scholarships and welfare." UW and Alaska Airlines in '11 "agreed to a five-year deal worth at least $700,000 annually to rename the Hec Edmundson Pavilion basketball arena." As part of the deal, UW "has also created an Athletic Village presented by Alaska Airlines, which incorporates all of the athletic facilities located around the football stadium." The airline "will also have a presence on UW’s Tacoma and Bothell campuses." The deal "is pending approval by the UW Board of Regents, which meets next on Sept. 10." UW athletic administrators, "with assistance from UW’s Sponsorship Office and Chicago-based sports analysis company Navigate Research, negotiated the deal" (SEATTLE TIMES, 9/3).
A DIFFERENT BREED: The SEATTLE TIMES' Jude wrote as UW's football program has "stabilized, so too has the athletic department’s financial outlook." In AD Scott Woodward’s first year, the department "eliminated both swimming programs and laid off 13 staffers to help offset" a $2.8M shortfall. Seven years later, "significant steps forward" include the '15-16 budget including just under $2.2M in "new expenses for scholarship athletes as part of what Woodward called the 'liberalization' of NCAA rules." The budget bump "includes a little more" than $1M alone in extra food for athletes. In addition, an estimated $830,000 "will be spent over the next year on a cost-of-attendance increase." UW Senior Associate AD & CFO Robert Sasaki said that the $2.2M "will be covered by 'additional revenue upside” projected in the budget'" (SEATTLE TIMES, 8/30).
