Tom Stultz, who helped build IMG College and rebuild Host Communications, is taking his college marketing and media expertise to San Diego-based JMI Sports.
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Stultz
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Stultz will direct JMI’s newly formed capital and media division, which will find funding solutions for capital projects, such as stadiums and arenas. While the company will seek opportunities across teams, leagues and municipalities, JMI expects to find most of its business on college campuses.
“Predominantly, we’re going to be looking at college facilities,” said Erik Judson, a co-founder of JMI along with San Diego Padres Chairman John Moores. “There are a lot more projects and a lot more opportunity in the college space. That’s where we envision bringing our expertise.”
The creation of the capital and media division gives JMI three distinct yet complementary divisions: stadium development, colleges, and capital and media.
“It’s gotten to a point where it’s hard for schools to say that they’re going to put a bunch of money into facilities when funds are being cut so much to the rest of campus,” Stultz said. “We can come in and show schools all of the different funding models and where revenues can be maximized.”
JMI made its first mark in stadium development when Judson oversaw the Petco Park project in San Diego.
Last year, JMI said it would push more of its resources and energy into building a college-focused business. The firm planted a flag in the college ground in September by launching a new college division, spearheaded by former San Diego State Athletic Director Jeff Schemmel.
JMI’s first college client, the University of Houston, used Schemmel to aid its search for a football coach.
Now Stultz will help clients determine how to pay for their facilities. It was a growing part of his responsibility at IMG College before he left the company in September. He specifically had worked on a project to privately finance multiple projects at the University of Kentucky, including city-owned Rupp Arena. Goldman Sachs had signed on to be IMG College’s financing partner for such projects.
The rough idea was that revenue from the new building would be used to repay the funding partner.
