The U SPORTS Partnership Opportunity Showcase took place June 1st at the Hockey Hall of Fame, and featured U SPORTS CEO Graham Brown, McMaster University athletic director Glen Grunwald and Sportsnet personality Arash Madani speaking to advertisers and marketers about sponsorship opportunities within Canadian sports.
Madani’s presentation discussed the great success many U SPORTS athletes have found, such as Kansas City Chiefs’ guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, who played at McGill before going to the NFL, and the 56 Canadian athletes at the Rio Olympics who came through U SPORTS schools. He said that success is a reflection of how Canadian university sports has grown over the years.
“20 years ago when I was coming out of school, the idea that a Canadian kid from a Canadian university would play in the NFL was so far-fetched. And the change, the overall growth in talent was probably never more pronounced in my mind than last year at the Rio Olympics. One of Canada’s first medal-winners, Kylie Masse, swimmer, University of Toronto. One of the great moments for our country last year, Erica Wiebe, women’s wrestler. She wins, she’s crying on the mat, she goes and grabs her coach, gives her coach a piggyback ride, she’s biting the medal on the podium as she’s crying during the national anthem, and she sends out a tweet afterwards saying ‘We did it, Canada.’ Erica Wiebe, from the University of Calgary.”
Madani said stories like that show the high level U SPORTS is at.
“The facilities that our kids train in have never been better, the competition has never been better. The level of play…it’s indicative when you have over a dozen NFL scouts showing up to the University of Manitoba, in Winnipeg in the dead cold of February, to go to the University of Manitoba pro day just to watch some of our athletes train. It’s evident with the podium visits in the Olympics. …The growth, the opportunity, the excellence, it’s unprecedented, and these kids really remind us how far we’ve come from one era to the next of competing with the best.”
Brown’s presentation covered the importance of having all of U SPORTS’ conferences and schools on board with new sponsorship opportunities, providing a new level of national access to Canadian university sports and its 20,000 varsity athletes, and also to the 100,000 students who participate in intramural programs and the million-plus students overall at these schools.
“Having the presidents involved now is really a game-changer in terms of what we can do corporately. When you look at university sport in Canada and you look at the opportunities, there are over 1 million students in our 56 university campuses, and we are the front porch to it. …The majority of the students on campus, 68 per cent, go through the athletic and recreational footprint every week. …Every week, over 918,000 people go through our footprint.”
Brown said it’s easier for marketers to work with Canadian universities now because the schools’ presidents and athletic directors are onside.
“The universities are taking a business approach to how they’re running sport, and that’s why I’m confident in bringing you all together to say if we can get corporate Canada, we can deliver on your strategy. Yes, you’re going to be on a university campus, and there’s certain things that you have to do on those campuses, but when you have the athletic director and the president working with you to knock down those barriers, you can leverage those campuses and make that work for your business.”
Brown said U SPORTS is ready to team up with marketers at every level in a way they haven’t been before.
“There’s a chance to think differently. Our conferences are very positioned to help deliver for corporate Canada, as are our schools, and now the national body. I think that’s the message we want you to take from here. When you’re thinking at your next strategy session ‘How could we do it?’, don’t be afraid to call us.”
Gord Grace, the CEO of Ontario University Athletics, said in an interview afterwards that U SPORTS stands out to Canadian marketers because of the people they can reach.
“We’re a gateway to young adults, really, and I think that makes us unique,” he said. “We’re all about education and development and future leaders, and you combine all that and it’s an exciting property.”
Grace added that Canadian universities are also developing stronger relationships with their communities thanks to community members and clubs using their athletic facilities, community members going to watch varsity games, and universities reaching out to local schools and clubs.
“It’s an opportunity for corporate Canada to use those relationships,” he said. “Those people are coming to our games, and we’re influencers there. I can’t tell you the number of programs that our universities are doing in local schools. We have school-day games, where we invite all the local schools to come watch a game mid-day and thousands of kids come by school bus. We’re doing reader programs, we’re doing anti-bullying programs, so there’s a lot of real good work being done there, and I think it’s part of the extended university family in our communities.”
Grunwald said afterwards he thought the U SPORTS message was well-received.
“I thought it was great. We had a good turnout, and Graham delivered a great message about what the opportunities might be with U SPORTS. It seemed like a lot of people were interested and we had a pretty attentive crowd.”
Grunwald has attended to many high-profile events over the years, including as a NBA general manager with the Raptors and Knicks and as the president of the Toronto Board of Trade. According him, this showcase can be compared to some of those hosted by these prestigious organizations.
“It had a lot of pizzazz, and a good crowd, standing-room only. That’s always a good sign. I thought it was very well received.”
Grunwald said the variety of opportunities U SPORTS can provide is a key selling point.
“It’s the breadth of offerings we can make to the corporate community, not only geographically, but within various target markets, whether it’s millennials, communities, families. And it’s more than just sports, it’s also the health and wellness and lifestyle opportunities that we can present.”
Grunwald said U SPORTS is also more able to provide national sponsorship opportunities than they’ve ever been.
“U SPORTS is being transformed,” he said. “We have a new brand, a new governance model, a new CEO, and a new approach to doing business.”
Wilfrid Laurier University athletic director and Ontario University Athletics president Peter Baxter was at the showcase Thursday, and he said it particularly highlighted how U SPORTS has grown and improved.
“I just finished my 19th year in U SPORTS, [and predecessors] CIS and CIAU, and we’ve been undersold [for much of that time]. Thursday highlighted that to some major corporations in Canada. I came in at a time when most athletic directors were former coaches and weren’t really involved in sponsorships. We’ve certainly grown over that period of time, but this brings it to a new level.”
Baxter said U SPORTS schools and conferences have really come together in a new way to provide national value here.
“What’s unique about this is it’s a collaboration of the 56 schools and the four conferences, all of the member institutions working together to make sure that it will be a win-win proposition when sponsors make a deal with U SPORTS. It’s everybody growing in the same direction. It’s not just the national office, it’s the four conferences, it’s the 56 institutions that are working together. Things are scalable now.”
Baxter said the speakers emphasized that U SPORTS marketing opportunities aren’t just about varsity athletes.
“It’s not just the student-athletes, it’s also about being on campuses,” he said. “At Laurier alone, we have 19,000 users that come through our building every week. There’s a great opportunity for companies to market to that demographic, and I thought that was very well-articulated by Graham and Glen.”
U SPORTS consultant Steve McAllister, the former managing editor of Yahoo Sports Canada and the former sports editor of The Globe and Mail, was also at the showcase Thursday. He said the message seemed to be well-received by the marketers and advertisers.
“I think it went over really well,” McAllister said. “The reception was that people were really interested. People are kind of surprised when they hear about Canadian university sports and how good the product is, and even just basic things like the numbers of schools and the number of athletes and national championships. Canadian university sports is one of the best-kept secrets in the country. …When you look at the numbers of students engaged in some level in university sport, whether recreational or high-performance sport, it’s a pretty good story.”
McAllister said it was helpful having a speaker like Grunwald with a high-level sports and business background.
“Having Glen Grunwald at McMaster brings a level of credibility to university sport in the country because of everything he’s done.”
McAllister said it’s impressive to see how U SPORTS has managed to bring its schools and conferences together, and Brown deserves a lot of credit for that.
“The only way to make the league successful is have a united front,” he said. “I think one thing that Graham has been able to do is a lot of work on getting the schools and conferences to come together and have a common bond. ...I think Graham’s exactly the kind of guy they need now, a guy who’s got a vision and has got business saavy.”
McAllister has been covering Canadian university athletics for a long time, through plenty of highs and lows. He said Thursday’s showcase indicates just how far U SPORTS has come.
“I think there’s a much brighter future for Canadian university sports than there ever has been.”