HARTFORD, Conn. — The University of Connecticut is opposing legislation that could force public disclosure of contracts to do marketing for its athletic teams, arguing it would turn away potential advertisers and hurt the university financially.
Since 1998, the marketing of the college’s athletic programs has been handled by a private firm, IMG College, which pays UConn an average of $8 million annually for the right to negotiate marketing contracts for the university. Under that arrangement, the university says, the contracts are not subject to Freedom of Information laws because the public institution is not a party to the agreements.
The legislation proposed by state Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney, a New Haven Democrat, would require that any contract involving a marketing sponsor and a public college or university be subject to transparency laws.
UConn Athletic Director Warde Manuel and Neal Eskin, Connecticut’s senior associate athletic director in charge of external relations, argued that the bill could jeopardize money that is critical to UConn’s success.
“If IMG College knows that every corporate sponsorship contract of which it is a party [on behalf of the University] is subject to public disclosure, it may determine that doing future business with UConn is not in its best interests, thus placing a severe financial burden on the university,’ they said in written testimony.
At a hearing Tuesday before the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission, an IMG College executive said the contract to market UConn’s athletic teams would lose about half its value if agreements with sponsors were subject to public disclosure. Rex Hough, the company’s vice president of the eastern region, was testifying at a hearing on a complaint brought by The Associated Press, which is seeking details of a major marketing deal that made Webster Bank a university sponsor.
“When our contract’s up with the university and it goes back to bid, that $8 million probably gets reduced in half because of the business that’s potentially lost by disclosing every contract. If every contract is disclosed, they don’t have an $8 million contract,” Hough said.
