When University of Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops conducts his first call-in show of the season this week, video of the show will be simulcast on the school’s official athletic website.
That’s just one of the new ways Kentucky intends to bring more video to its revamped UKathletics.com, which had a soft launch showcasing a drastically different format and appearance earlier this month. The home page alone features more than 10 video elements.
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Kentucky is using SportsLabs to bring a bolder look and more video to its website.
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“We were looking for something that would be big, bold and different,” said Jason Schlafer, UK’s executive associate athletic director for external operations. “This is much different than anything we’ve ever had before digitally.”
To help the Wildcats achieve this bolder look, they brought on a new digital partner, SportsLabs, a Boulder, Colo.-based technology unit of Silver Chalice. SportsLabs won a competitive bid process that included incumbent CBS Interactive and other digital agencies.
Like many startups, SportsLabs has had its share of ups and downs. It recorded a big early win to manage the College Football Playoff’s website but suffered a setback at Arkansas earlier this year when the Razorbacks and SportsLabs parted ways after Sports-Labs redesigned ArkansasRazorbacks.com.
But SportsLabs has recovered in a space dominated by CBS Interactive and NeuLion by winning digital business at Kansas State, Virginia Tech, the ACC, the Mountain West Conference and the West Coast Conference.
John Burris, president of Silver Chalice who also serves as president of SportsLabs, called Kentucky’s digital rights perhaps the most significant college property available this year, primarily because of the Cats’ basketball program and Twitter-happy coach John Calipari.
SportsLabs’ redesign of UKathletics.com makes the official website responsive to any desktop or mobile device. The company also will work with UK on identifying content opportunities such as video streaming the coaches’ call-in shows, which already has a presenting sponsorship from the local Ford dealer in Lexington.
ESPN, which owns the SEC Network, owns all of the live game rights, but schools can stream any other type of programming to their own sites.
Calipari’s site, CoachCal.com, also will live on the UKathletics.com platform. It has been operated by a separate digital agency in the past.
The bid process was administered by UK’s multimedia rights holder, JMI Sports, which won Kentucky’s rights last summer as part of a 15-year, $210 million deal. Digital rights were included in that package, making it JMI’s duty to select a digital partner.
Paul Archey, the former Major League Baseball executive brought in to oversee the UK property for JMI, worked with Schlafer to identify the new partner. The terms were not announced, but these types of deals are typically a revenue share between the rights holder and the digital firm.
“I really feel like the website has been an underutilized asset,” Archey said. “This has been one of my top priorities since I got here last spring. … Going through the process, I told everyone that we’re looking for a technology partner and a consultant for all aspects of digital, not just someone to just be a website developer. What we’ve got is much more fan-friendly with great content and great video, while also making it easier to see the videos.”
UK’s social media presence will be integrated throughout the site, enabling fans to access breaking news and social posts from Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. SportsLabs and JMI are working on new mobile apps, as well.
