The University of Connecticut has renewed a commercial rights deal with IMG, granting the agency radio, sponsorship, digital and licensing rights for the next 15 seasons.
The deal will see IMG continue to distribute UConn’s live radio rights, manage UConn’s trademark licensing program and sponsorship programme, and create podcasts, bespoke social media content and magazine programming.
IMG will pay a minimum of $93m (€81m) over the 15-season deal, from 2018-19 to 2032-33. UConn will receive a guarantee of $6m in 2018-19, along with a $2m signing bonus.
Over and above the guarantee, UConn will receive 100 per cent of advertising revenue from radio broadcasts for the first three years of the deal, and 80 per cent thereafter. It will also receive royalties from the sale of licensed products and IP rights.
UConn’s previous deal was worth a minimum of $80m over 10 seasons, from 2008-09 to 2017-18. It did not contain such a generous revenue share.
IMG began managing UConn’s trademark licensing in 1986. The university has since earned over $17m in licensing royalties.
Most of UConn’s college sports teams do not play in the ‘Power Five’ conferences, which earn the lion’s share of revenue from college sports. It is famed for its dominant women’s basketball programme, which has won 10 NCAA Division I titles in the past 19 years.