Learfield President & CEO Cole Gahagan sees this current period of changes in college sports as “a bit paradoxical.” Speaking today at the SBJ Intercollegiate Athletics Forum, presented by Learfield, Gahagan said while there is “a lot that's changing” in college sports, “I don't know if I've ever seen … this much excitement, this much fervor, this much fandom, this much constant chatter about the opportunities around the space.” He added there is “so much to do that's going to provide growth opportunities to everybody, every stakeholder in the space,” but there still are “some challenges to work through.” Gahagan said “determining the right ways for us to help drive that change” requires they “make certain that we're focused on the right things.”
One major area of change in college sports is NIL, which Gahagan said is “absolutely a positive in terms of the opportunities” being created for student athletes that “were long past due to be creating.” However, there is “still a great deal of work” needed to figure out “what the long-term solutions for NIL are going to be.” Gahagan said Learfield's position around NIL has “evolved significantly to create opportunities” for student athletes. He added the company done “over 120 deals for student athletes just in the last nine months alone” at both the national and local level.
Gahagan noted they have seen a “huge increase in digital engagement with fans coming out of the pandemic,” while there has been a 20% “increase in ticket downloads on Paciolan.” It shows how “excited” college sports fans are and how that translates into them “exhibiting their fandom on an everyday basis.” Gahagan said fans are “telling us increasingly that they want more” content around college sports. He also highlighted how “critically important” it is that they “recognize the female fans value and contribution to our business on the whole.” Gahagan: “They now make up 42% of the fan base that we have data around. … They manage 85% of the consumer decisions in the household.
