FOOTBALL TIDBITS

NCAA Football - History
(1997-2005)

NCAA Football was formed as a coalition between the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), the Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA), the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to provide a collective voice to promote college football.

Created initially by the AFCA and NACDA in 1996 as College Football USA, the leadership met with representatives of the CCA and NCAA a year later to unify the branding and marketing efforts of the four major stakeholders in college football.

The first formal meeting of the NCAA Football Board of directors was held May 8,1997 at the Wyndam Anatole Hotel in Dallas. It was determined that Host Communications, Inc. (HOST) would manage the activities of the 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation. HOST agreed to absorb all costs until NCAA Football generated revenues required to fund this new effort to brand college football.

Initial objectives adopted by NCAA Football were increasing student interest through targeted grassroots participatory and interactive programs; creating incremental institutional revenues by creating a licensing program that included registered trademarks of the constituents, and developing promotional dollars for college football by uniting the football-playing institutions and conferences with the AFCA, NCADA and the NCAA to develop a single marketing and public relations entity to represent the game.

Initial revenues substantially were provided by corporations that participated in the NCAA Corporate Partner program administered by HOST and secondarily by an aggressive merchandise-licensing program that included significant dollars from interactive video games. In 2004, licensing royalties began outpacing sponsorship revenues when the NCAA bundled its marketing, licensing and television rights in a new agreement with CBS.

HOST began its formal relationship with NCAA Football on August 31, 1997 with a five-year contract. Prior to expiration, NCAA Football extended the agreement until August 31, 2013.

The Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC) subsequently was assigned licensing rights by HOST concurrent with its' contracts with NCAA Football. The Board and CLC collectively developed marketing strategies that provided consistent exposure for NCAA Football's logo by integrating the pennant with conference logos to collectively develop a mark that has acclaimed national brand recognition.

NCAA Football has distributed over $43 million in royalties and grants to its constituencies since 1998. Schools and conferences have received $31 million; bowl associations have been awarded $7 million; more than $2 million has been directed to the AFCA and NACDA, and $3 million has been distributed to the NCAA. An additional $10.5 million has been spent to promote the game during that time.

Significant changes have taken place over the years through the cooperative efforts of the constituent groups that are NCAA Football. The pennant logo, for example, has gained significant marketing brand recognition and power in a short period. NCAA football-playing schools, through the encouragement of the AFCA, NACDA and conference commissioners, embrace branding strategies adopted by NCAA Football that maximize exposure for the official mark by including it on helmets and jerseys, and scoreboards and venues, which are prominent in television and print photography coverage and to game environment.

Increased usage of the NCAA Football marks and programming by national television networks, cable systems and conference syndications; a nationally syndicated NCAA Football preseason television program; the distribution of electronic feeds twice weekly featuring key games throughout the season and the "good works" of student-athletes to stations across the country; a nationally syndicated NCAA Football Insider radio program featuring AFCA coaches; the prevalence of stadium banners in venues throughout the country; inclusion of the mark in printed programs and special football publications, and a state-of-the-art Web site have provided promotional exposure opportunities that generally are uncommon for new brands that do not receive designated advertising support.

Here's a year-by-year review of activities of NCAA Football:

1998 Season: NCAA Football distributed over 145,000 helmet decals, 15,000 coaches patches and 700 banners and field markings were sent to schools in NCAA Football's initial promotional program. The Slant, a weekly 30-minute magazine format, was aired on Fox Television; an NCAA Football radio Game of the Week was produced, and a Campus Tour program was scheduled with the goal to focus attention on college football at different locales throughout the country. Program formatting for The Slant and the creation of a college football mascot were critiqued by the Board of directors following the season, and it was determined that promotional and marketing materials for NCAA Football would be directed to institutional marketing directors rather than the director of athletics at each campus.

1999 Season: Promotional and marketing programs were enhanced to include an Internet site; staff began developing research data with ESPN Chilton; Take A Kid To The Game was included to take the game to grassroots constituencies and a licensing strategy that included both the marks of NCAA Football and manufacturers of football jerseys was announced at the world licensing Super Show, and "NCAA Football '98," which was developed by EA Sports, was ranked as one of the top sports video games.

2000 Season: For the first time, NCAA Football became a revenue generator and began reimbursing HOST for expenditures that it had made on its behalf since inception. Football coaches, under the direction of the AFCA, became more proactive promoting the brand by expanding in-stadium exposure opportunities with the inclusion of the logo on their individual television shows, and game managers expanded the usage of stadium banners and on-field stencils that often interchanged the NCAA mark with the conference logo. PSAs became a focal point of the Board and significant efforts were made to enhance the focus and the distribution of these messages to network television and cable systems. The Board agreed to support Let It Fly, a flag football tournament for all ages in a 15-city tour, and www.ncaafootball.org exceeded 1,000,000 page views for the first time.

2001 Season: Revenues were allocated for the production of public service announcements that would feature diversity, education, teamwork and sportsmanship. Branding efforts continued to expand with increased participation by football-playing schools; the Let It Fly participatory event included a Campus Tour marketing element through a joint six-campus effort with the National Intramural, Recreation and Sports Association (NIRSA). Net revenues continued to grow, and the Budget and Finance Committee recommended consideration to create a $300,000 reserve and explore investment opportunities. The Web site exceeded 3,000,000 page views for the first time.

2002 Season: In addition to the NCAA corporate partner program, NCAA Football secured a two-year sponsorship from Procter and Gamble's Cheer division. The Board reviewed its PSA strategy and elected to feature active student-athletes rather than former great players in these announcements beginning with the 2003 season. The Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee became a standing member of the Executive Committee and a national summit to discuss sportsmanship issues at football games, in response to negative behavior by fans utilizing alcohol before games, was recommended and later administered by the NCAA to include all sports. The official football agreement with Wilson was extended to March 3, 2007 and research indicated that the decline in student attendance primarily was due to a need to study and to obtain part-time employment. The Take A Kid To A Game program exceeded 200 participating schools for the first time.

2003 Season: As NCAA Corporate Champion/Partner revenues designated for NCAA Football began to decrease in 2003, NCAA Football became increasingly dependent upon licensing revenues to finance its promotional and branding efforts. The "benchmark" royalty allocations in a new official football agreement with Wilson were changed to advantage NCAA Football. The Board established a reserve fund threshold of $1.4 million and NCAA Football's fiscal year was changed to coincide with the respective football season. The EA Sports "NCAA Football" video game became the second best selling sports interactive with more than 1.5 million units sold. The Board amended the organization's mission statement to "encourage good sportsmanship to help foster a family-oriented atmosphere at and around games. NCAA Football produced and syndicated the Quest For No. 1, a 30-minute preseason special to replace The Slant, and it was televised on 88 stations. The Web site exceeded 4,000,000 page views for the first time.

2004 Season: NCAA Football granted EA Sports exclusive rights for six years in the video game category. Wilson official ball royalties continue to increase annually and Nike began a licensing program featuring the mark. The "Quest For #1" was syndicated to more than 100 stations and the helmet decal program became conference-specific for Division I-A schools. Olympus and Cheer each had one-year promotions. PSAs continued with the Stay In School theme, which feature student-athletes who reject the opportunity to enter the professional football draft to complete their final year of collegiate eligibility. The DEF program was increased to twice weekly distribution to television networks, cable systems and conference syndications for 15 weeks. Participation in the Take A Kid To The Game continued to increase and Web site page views surpassed 8 million.

Based upon a successful IRS audit of the 2001 fiscal year that was administered by the government in 2003, the Board was encouraged to direct more funding to programs that supported its mission statement and the reserve fund cap was reduced to $1 million. The Executive Committee was empowered to act on behalf of the Board between annual meetings.

2005 Season: A special subcommittee on promotions and brand marketing, which included representatives from all constituent groups, was created at the 2004 Board meeting. The group's recommendations were approved for immediate implementation to complement the traditional branding programs administered by the Board.

NCAA Football Insider, a weekly radio program that features the AFCA coaches, was syndicated nationally. The DEF program was expanded to include postseason play and include programming that featured the "good works" of student-athletes. The Web site was redesigned and enhanced with unique audio and video streaming with the goal to become a viewer destination. Weekly game previews, plays of the month, development of "magic moments" featuring former great players and coaches, PSAs and special programs attracted more than 10 million page views. Generic NCAA jersey patches were distributed to NCAA Divisions I-AA, II and III; NCAA Division I-A conference-specific sideline vests and caps were utilized by all schools, and the Take A Kid To A Game Program continued to attract a record number of participating schools, primarily from NCAA Division I-AA, II and III. A desktop icon was distributed free to ncaafootball.com visitors and the technology for a mobile telephone blast, which is subscription, based, was completed and will be made available to the public prior to the 2006 season. Recognizing a loss at any point in the season can have a negative impact on a school 's selection and eligibility for a bowl or an NCAA Championship, a new tagline--"NCAA Football: Every Game Counts" was developed for all promotional and brand marketing activities. The mission statement and the objectives supporting it were revised.

Upon reviewing the original objectives outlined in the embryonic stages of developing this organization, there is no doubt that the unified effort of all constituent groups has provided college football a single voice to market and promote the game and created an NCAA Football brand that consistently increases in value.