The university’s announcement last week that it would sign a five-year deal with Under Armour to outfit the school’s 27 sports teams marked the second major corporate sponsorship deal officials inked this year.
The deal will certainly bring in needed dollars, and the royalties from a Victoria’s Secret fashion line couldn’t hurt our treasury, either. But as officials embark on enacting an ambitious strategic plan to launch the university into the ranks of the country’s elite public universities, will this money will be enough?
Of course not! Slots may one day bail out the state’s emaciated higher education funding plan, but while Coppin State and Towson wait on legislators to resolve one of the most controversial issues they’ve ever debated, we say this university should bank on more corporate contracts.
We understand officials are busy raising money the old-fashioned way (playing golf), so here are a few ideas to spark their imaginations.
Titillating Testudo
Administrators showed encouraging progress when they approved a deal with Victoria’s Secret this summer. The deal included shirts, hoodies, tote bags and even university sweatpants. The moderately priced sweatpants ($44.50) would be a boon for the campus’ neediest sorority girls, as only one in three own pants.
This new line could give some girls more than the leggings they traditionally wear to brave the winter months.
This Terp’s for you
Of course, such a lingerie campaign might send some parents the wrong message. Corporate sponsorship deals should ideally align with a company’s own standards and ideals. Last month, University President Dan Mote signed the Amethyst Initiative, saying he’d be open to talking about lowering the drinking age.
Cheers, Mote. That’s an ideal that will sell! Not only has your support helped stir a public debate even the militant legions of Mothers Against Drunk Driving couldn’t squash, but it has also raised serious opportunities to get Testudo into some beer commercials. (Maybe if this promotion pans out, all students can receive free iPhones.)
Bon appetite
On the other hand, a Testudo beer ad may provoke a full-on invasion of the campus by MADD-commissioned mercenaries. No marketing campaign could compensate for the damage crazed mothers would cause if they sacked the Mitchell Building. Besides, this year, we fell off Princeton Review’s list of top drinking schools (although we still do rank No. 2 in “students study the least”). It might be worthwhile for the university to invest in some subliminal advertising, the kind where you subtly convince an audience to believe things that clearly aren’t true. For instance, why not rename The Diner on North Campus as Wolfgang Puck’s Food Court at the LaPlata Beach Plaza? After all, trying to incorporate a big institution’s name into a long-standing structure full of tradition is never awkward.
