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FAU Receives $6 Million Gift from The GEO Group to Name Football Stadium

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FAU Receives $6 Million Gift from The GEO Group to Name Football Stadium

fauowl said

owl2Doc said

It's possible the naming rights initiative has been put aside/on hold while they fundraise for the Athletic Center? I know there are concurrent projects seeking donors but judging by the press releases it seems like once a big project is on the table, most of the donations are geared toward that.
Posted On: Aug 10th 2016, 6:06 PM #357611

Naming rights or fundraising for the Athletic Center is all about relationship building. I cannot imagine a scenario where we put certain relationship building on hold for another relationship building opportunity. It's all important and takes a long time to develop.  

We are not asking someone to go to lunch for the first time on Tuesday and then asking them to donate $1M on Wednesday.

The hands Dr. Kelly shakes tomorrow may take 1 year, 3 years, 6 years, 10 years, 15 years to develop into a donation of substance. It's a process that has absolutely no time frame. You develop trust and that helps the process.

That's why we need to hire quality people. Pay for the quality so we stop being a stepping stone university so we can actually develop the relationships that it takes to get quality donors over time.  

That is simple to say, but not simple to accomplish.

Go Owls!!
Posted On: Aug 10th 2016, 9:48 PM #357615

So what we are in is basically a reset with rebuilding our relationships with businesses and such. I can see that. President Kelly and AD Chun did a pretty good job with the academic center but that was started by AD Chun, and got a bigger boost after President Kelly came on board.
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Naming rights arent going to come from a corporation that has 0 ties to FAU or the area. Chick fil a is a Georgia based company who already sponsors a bowl game in Atlanta. 

Our best bet today, is Modernizing Medicine, shoukd they continue to see amazing growth. Their founder and CEO is on the BOT and software companies (like banks) seem to be the firms that make such massive profits they can give $$ away to name a stadium. ModMed is on FAUs campus and there are many tie ins, its just a matter of them getting big enough to justify the spend.

Another company down here that I would hope is a target, Ultimate Software. Based in Weston, ridiculously successful, theyre sponsoring 1 or 2 PGA tour guys (so theyre open to shelling out marketing $) and are kind of considered a little "google" here in the area. 
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teambeer said

Another company down here that I would hope is a target, Ultimate Software. Based in Weston, ridiculously successful, theyre sponsoring 1 or 2 PGA tour guys (so theyre open to shelling out marketing $) and are kind of considered a little "google" here in the area. 
Posted On: Aug 11th 2016, 6:55 AM #357619

If you'd have bought the stock back in 2011, you could retire…400% gain!

 :Scared:
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Out of curiosity, what's the big deal about naming rights?  Is it a status thing?  Are there issues servicing the debt?
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teambeer said

Naming rights arent going to come from a corporation that has 0 ties to FAU or the area. Chick fil a is a Georgia based company who already sponsors a bowl game in Atlanta. 

Our best bet today, is Modernizing Medicine, shoukd they continue to see amazing growth. Their founder and CEO is on the BOT and software companies (like banks) seem to be the firms that make such massive profits they can give $$ away to name a stadium. ModMed is on FAUs campus and there are many tie ins, its just a matter of them getting big enough to justify the spend.

Another company down here that I would hope is a target, Ultimate Software. Based in Weston, ridiculously successful, theyre sponsoring 1 or 2 PGA tour guys (so theyre open to shelling out marketing $) and are kind of considered a little "google" here in the area. 
Posted On: Aug 11th 2016, 6:55 AM #357619

I was using Chick Fil A as a example of why a company may not want to give money for naming rights and the controversary it may bring. Such as the comments made by Chick Fil A's president about being in support of traditional marriage. But i get where you are coming from.



owlmart said

Out of curiosity, what's the big deal about naming rights?  Is it a status thing?  Are there issues servicing the debt?
Posted On: Aug 11th 2016, 8:11 AM #357621

well it does help with the cost of a stadium but its also a marketing thing for the company that is involved. Such as Miller Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Miller Brewing has been in Milwaukee for over a hundred years and part of Brewers baseball since the team has been there. Lambeau Field in Green Bay is named after Curly Lambeau founder and player of the Packers. Stuff like that.
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owlmart said

Out of curiosity, what's the big deal about naming rights?  Is it a status thing?  Are there issues servicing the debt?
Posted On: Aug 11th 2016, 8:11 AM #357621

Yes, we still owe a pile of money on the stadium.

Also, if we sell the naming rights and become more of a self sustained program we dont have to play "body bag" games in the future.  We can recruit a larger geographical area, give staff raises and competitive pay (we pay our HC at the bottom of our conference), etc.

Teambeer is the most knowledgeable FAU sports fan I know, way smarter than me.
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Office Depot Stadium.

:Big-Grin:
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IIRC the annual debt on the stadium is around $2-3M so yeah, having someone who is willing to pay you $500k-1M definitely eases the burden. Needing to win is more about finances than reputation, really.

If we had large crowds that would be less of an issue. If we were part of a bigger conference that would be less of an issue.

We're going to turn the corner here with Charlie and depending on how well he does that dictates how quickly he'll be hired away and then we go back through the ebb and flow again. So again, it would be nice to have consistent yearly funding from naming rights to not depend on the fanbase which can dry up inbetween the winning seasons/coach tenures.
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Office Depot is hitting reset again with their CEO…that ain't happening!

And Iowa is paying their strength coach $600k a year!!  So we need to get movin.
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