Iowa Hopes To Increase Ticket Revenue With New Partner

The Univ. of Iowa is "escalating efforts to grow attendance and revenue via new digital marketing methods and strategies for enhancing the 'live competition environment,'" according to Vanessa Miller of the Ceder Rapids GAZETTE. Iowa recently gave Miami-based WMT Digital a "one-year, $30,000 contract to, among other things, grow the Hawkeyes’ brand awareness; create individualized campaigns for ticketed sports; analyze digital data; and report back on the impact." Ultimately, the partnership's success or failure will "hinge on Hawkeye athletic ticket revenue," which in the '18 budget year "reached its lowest point" since at least '13, when it generated a combined $25.3M from Iowa ticketed sports that year. Game attendance "accounts for a large chunk" of the Iowa Athletics revenue pie -- although Iowa "increasingly has been relying on its lucrative Big Ten television contract" to drive revenue (Cedar Rapids GAZETTE, 6/20).