Commercializing tradition: How schools are milking revenue from everything in sight

Happy Thursday!

Thanks for reading NIL Wire today. The ideas that athletic departments are coming up with to generate revenue are fascinating. I hope you enjoy the details on some of those concepts listed in the story below.

— Kyle

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Commercializing tradition: How schools are milking revenue from everything in sight

Ask any reporter how exciting a postgame press conference is, and the answer is probably somewhere between a silent film and a visit to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Don’t tell that to Oklahoma fans, though! For the hefty sum of $692.11, Sooner faithful filled the press conference room to hear head coach Brent Venables answer questions after Oklahoma beat Michigan. 

Two tickets to the actual game were similarly priced on the secondary market. And the price for Venables’s Auburn press conference was a bargain: $576.86. Perhaps mocking it is the wrong idea, because tickets to both press conferences sold out … in August! 

In today’s college sports landscape, NIL and revenue sharing have changed the game. No longer can departments stand pat and fund their operations through traditional means: ticket sales, media rights and donations. Instead, they are thinking outside the box and offering experiences that few could have expected even five years ago. When you’re sharing $20.5 million with athletes, sometimes you need to sell tickets to postgame press conferences. 

“Historically, athletic departments chased most available dollars,” said Daniel Rascher, a sport management professor at the University of San Francisco. “But they didn’t go after alcohol and smoking sponsors. They chased a lot of different revenue streams, but not every revenue stream. Now, they’re spending more and allocating money away from previous areas, like coaching contracts and facilities. A bit more is going directly to the players. They have to figure out where they’re going to get that.”  

If you’ve ever done a fantasy football league with buddies, chances are that draft day is circled on the calendar each year. It’s a get-together filled with laughs and general nonsense. Imagine how much more fun it would be in a suite at your favorite team’s football stadium. 

That’s what Fresno State and UConn offered fans in August. The $1,000 draft package at Fresno State included 3.5 hours of suite access, wings provided by Buffalo Wild Wings, drinks and snacks, a league photo on the field, a pre-game field pass, in-game recognition for the league winner and a draft board. 

“We have buy-in from our president, from our presidential cabinet and from campus,” Fresno State athletic director Garrett Klassy said this summer. “We’re looking at active ways in how you leverage all those assets to get the funding to create what you need.” 

The UConn package cost $75 and came with pizza, wings, soft drinks, a locker room tour and on-field photos. The Huskies will also feature league names on the Rentschler Field scoreboard during a game — as long as they are “family friendly.” 

Even Ohio State — which might print more money than the United States Mint — is getting in on the act. Athletic director Ross Bjork arrived in Columbus with a fundraising track record and a keen sense of the NIL landscape. That’s abundantly clear from the football team’s $20 million championship roster and the decision to install field suites at Ohio Stadium. 

But Bjork is also thinking small, leveraging the Horseshoe’s premium areas as well as the stadium’s iconic status to generate revenue from non-football events. Tours cost between $20 and $40. 

And then there’s Grapes at the Gridiron, a wine-tasting event that includes a behind-the-scenes tour of Ohio Stadium. The menu features five flights of wine, prosciutto-wrapped melon, smoked salmon crostini, fried Brussels sprouts, orecchiette pasta and Beef Wellington. On second thought, maybe that is worth the $101 admission. 

“Continuing to think differently in our sponsorship and ticket sales initiatives is essential in this new era of college athletics,” said Chad Schroeder, director of business development at Ohio State Sports Properties. “Grapes at the Gridiron is a great example of how innovation can spark a fresh, elevated experience that brings fans closer to the traditions and iconic spaces they love. It’s not just about driving revenue — it’s about creating memorable, behind-the-scenes opportunities that deepen fan engagement and showcase Ohio Stadium, one of the most recognizable landmarks in all of college athletics, in a whole new light.” 

Bjork has cautioned that he’s trying to strike a balance between revenue generation while respecting Ohio State’s traditions, a similar tone to other acclaimed programs that are attempting to siphon off more money. 

“We’re a public trust of the state of Ohio,” Bjork said. “So how do we honor that tradition but also be creative [and] be innovative? Commercialize is a word now, right? But how do we get more donors involved? How do we get more fans buying merchandise? We’re plugging into all those different elements, and we're gonna make sure we capitalize on this.”

Fans will pay for almost anything, especially if it involves access. Nothing embodies that more than Penn State’s $10,000 Tunnel Club, a membership-only space literally located in the home tunnel at Beaver Stadium. Fans are positioned behind a glass wall, getting a premier viewing experience as the team enters and exits the locker room. The club has an open bar, complimentary food and snacks, private restrooms and an exclusive Wi-Fi network. 

In other words, everything a football fan would want in 2025!

Penn State sold all 30 of the passes, each of which allows four people into the club. However, they do not include game tickets. The space is also open for road football games, select Penn State athletics home games, Arts Fest and other university and special events. 

“If you brought in more money than your peers, and you found an efficient way to spend it, then you’d win more games,” Rascher said. “And then your fans would spend more, and you’d make more money. They’re always trying to outmaneuver each other for revenue.”

Concerts are a popular recent development in revenue generation. Musical acts used to descend on NFL stadiums and NBA and NHL arenas. Now, college football stadiums have entered the hosting arms race. 

Last month, 112,408 people attended a Zach Bryan concert at Michigan Stadium, the largest ticketed concert audience in U.S. history. Ohio State, Notre Dame, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas A&M have all hosted concerts in their mammoth football stadiums.

The Michigan athletic department estimated a $1.7 million haul for the Zach Bryan concert. 

But it’s not an idea reserved for the largest stadiums and richest athletic departments. Toledo, Appalachian State, Boise State and Fresno State have all brought concerts to their football stadiums, which have capacities between 26,000 and 40,000. 

Toledo made six figures off a Zac Brown concert in May. The Rockets plan to make the 2026 Glass Bowl concert a two-day event.

“I don't know if we're trying to get into the concert business,” Toledo athletic director Bryan Blair said. “But I do think utilizing our facilities in creative ways, bringing new people onto campus and … increasing our vibrancy is always going to be the goal.”

Concerts and other high-profile events in stadiums also increase demand for sponsorship, signage and premium seating, creating a flywheel beyond the initial ticket and concessions dollars. 

Press releases announcing stadium naming rights, field logos, talent fees and endowed positions have become omnipresent in email inboxes. The next frontier is jersey patches, a piece of real estate that reportedly could fetch an absurd $12 million for blue-blood football programs. 

In a conversation with NIL Wire, one athletic director referred to jersey patches as a “gold mine.” 

If there’s a path to revenue, athletic directors will find it.