UNT’s Partnership With The Cowboys Could Be Great For Academics

[Harry]

In the five years since the University of North Texas’s Apogee Stadium opened, the $78 million home base for the Mean Green has seemed like a complete waste. UNT’s football team is about as functional as putting an orange in a keyhole to open a door. But even if UNT isn’t breaking records on the football field (last season the team won exactly one game), it is setting the curve for sustainability. Apogee Stadium is “the first newly constructed collegiate football stadium in the nation to achieve the highest level of LEED certification,” or LEED Platinum. Leading the way in sustainability, environmental research, and energy consumption is a wonderful achievement for any university. And it looks like using football as a conduit to accomplish tangible milestones (which, apparently, doesn’t include a winning team) seems to be a trend that suits UNT nicely.

UNT is in the beginning stages of entering an exclusive agreement with the Dallas Cowboys, which certainly raises some eyebrows considering the game of football is bleak in Denton. Nevertheless, the collaboration looks like it could be particularly valuable for the school’s academics.

Last Thursday and Friday, UNT’s Board of Regents discussed and voted on whether or not the University of North Texas System Chancellor Lee Jackson and President Neal Smatresk would be allowed to draw up a deal with the Cowboys without the board’s oversight. Unanimously, the board voted yes. The deal is in its infancy and certainly subject to change, but the potential terms see UNT paying the Cowboys $1 million or more in order to become a “Proud Partner of the Dallas Cowboys.” According to a meeting memo, this would allow UNT to use the “team’s star and other primary logos; a blend of digital in-stadium, in restaurant and concourse advertising at The Ford Center and AT&T Stadium; digital mixed-use exterior banner and highway marquee advertising; select event exhibit space; game-day radio spots; preseason network and Jason Garrett show televised commercials; and a microsite and ads on the DallasCowboys.com web site.”

- See more at: http://www.texasmonthly.com/the-daily-post/unt-cowboys-partnership/#sthash.W1O7qGAc.dpuf

Here is a link to the UNT memo on this subject:

http://static.texastribune.org/media/documents/05.19.-20.16_Board_Book.pdf

[VideoEagle]

A mostly positive article on NT in Texas Monthly, that doesn't happen often. And it appears we get a lot for our money. 

[MeanGreenTexan]

2 hours ago, VideoEagle said:

A mostly positive article on NT in Texas Monthly, that doesn't happen often. And it appears we get a lot for our money. 

As Denton becomes more and more like Austin, I would expect this kind of article to increase.

[wardly]

In addition, it gives our new Frisco campus quite a bit of exposure.

[oldguystudent]

We're....paying them?

[Aldo]

1 hour ago, oldguystudent said:

We're....paying them?

Quote

this would allow UNT to use the “team’s star and other primary logos; a blend of digital in-stadium, in restaurant and concourse advertising at The Ford Center and AT&T Stadium; digital mixed-use exterior banner and highway marquee advertising; select event exhibit space; game-day radio spots; preseason network and Jason Garrett show televised commercials; and a microsite and ads on the DallasCowboys.com web site. - See more at: http://www.texasmonthly.com/the-daily-post/unt-cowboys-partnership/#sthash.W1O7qGAc.a0iNfYPk.dpuf

Great idea imo

[GrayEagle]

Hopefully,  this arrangement is the basis for our being able to offer a degree in sports administration.  There is a demand and we have lost several athletes because we didn't have that degree path.  Being able to look inside arguably the most successful sports franchise would attract some top candidates and eventually be a boon to North Texas athletics.  

[TreeFiddy]

Will we have to replace the SOW with a green star?