The Univ. of Utah announced it is "entering a 10-year partnership on multimedia rights with Learfield, which will manage Utah's corporate sponsorships and advertising," according to Kyle Goon of the SALT LAKE TRIBUNE. The contract details are "still being finalized," so no financial information is "yet available." The deal is "expected to be a huge boost in revenue in multimedia rights, potentially tripling Utah's previous deal with Outfront Media." Utah is "expecting roughly" $3M in revenue from its multimedia deal for the current FY. Learfield, which also works with Oregon State, Stanford and Colorado, signed Cal last year to a 10-year, $100M deal. While Utah's deal "may not be that much," it should be "highly competitive" with that agreement. Utah's last multimedia rights deal was negotiated in '07, when the school was still affiliated with the Mountain West. Utah "took three bids to replace their old deal," which expires at the end of June. As of last week, Utah had "elected to go with Learfield and had started hammering out details." Utah and Learfield "hope to iron out the contract within the next month" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 3/12).
