Outbound ticket sales will focus on football, men’s basketball and men’s hockeyGETTY IMAGES
The Univ. of Wisconsin is bringing in Legends to help the athletic department with several revenue-specific areas -- general ticketing, premium seating, fundraising, marketing and business intelligence -- by putting all of those capabilities into one integrated deal. Legends’ VP/College Partnerships Michael Behan described the new arrangement as the firm’s most comprehensive relationship in the college space. Other college clients include Oklahoma, Notre Dame and Louisville. “With colleges, you often see segmented marketing rights, whether it’s ticketing or premium or fundraising,” Behan said. “This is Wisconsin’s vision for bringing together all of these areas so that we can be responsible for a lion’s share of their revenue streams.” Legends will embed a team of 12-15 employees at UW, who will operate as sales execs for the school. Outbound ticket sales will focus on football, men’s basketball and men’s hockey. Legends will make commissions and bonuses based on how much it can grow UW’s revenue in those categories. UW Deputy AD Chris McIntosh and CFO Mario Morris took the lead on the Legends deal.
ART OF THE DEAL: UW first engaged Legends in '15 to conduct an in-depth survey of fans and focus groups as it embarks in the coming years on a $70M renovation plan for Camp Randall Stadium, one of the oldest college football venues in the country. Among the findings from the survey was a desire for more premium seating options. UW is finalizing its upcoming renovation design. An architect has not been selected yet, but close to 2,000 new premium seats are expected to be added. That includes indoor-outdoor club seating and 6-8 person loge seating. No new suites are expected. Camp Randall’s most recent renovation was completed in '05 when it added 72 suites. In addition to assisting with the stadium project, Legends will be responsible for all sales & marketing, planning and premium-seat sales strategy. “The project really served as the catalyst for us to talk about how Legends could assist us in other ways,” McIntosh said. “Our development team was excited about some of the innovation Legends could bring to our fundraising efforts.”
JUMP AROUND: UW’s improvement plans also include new artificial turf in the stadium and the McClain Center, improvements to the press box, restoration of the north wall of the Field House and utility upgrades. Bleacher seating will be torn out between the Field House and the football field and replaced by a series of premium seating options. A field-level club space will sit behind the goalpost, with new loge suites in an outdoor terrace.
