Written By: Steve Macy, NM State Associate Athletic Director

It has been a long, strange road over the past two years. On July 13th, I celebrated my two-year anniversary at NM State. No fanfare… No cake… and certainly, no parade. These first two years on the job have been exciting to say the least.

As you may have seen in news reports and quotes from Dr. Boston, athletics has undergone a significant financial change over the past several months. Quite frankly, it has been a challenge that I have endured since stepping on campus. The financial aspects of the marketing and promotion of Aggie athletics has been a moving target, but all the moves will lead to a long-term stable and secure future. Some of the changes we have made that are designed to have long-term positive effects include:

• We created a new entity called NMSU Sports Enterprises, Inc. NMSUSE is responsible for providing revenue to athletics through sponsorship agreements and other revenue streams. Starting a new corporation has been a significant effort and I cannot thank the people at the NMSU Foundation enough for their efforts.
• We have re-vamped the corporate sales business with a focus on maximizing net revenues. I looked at our sponsorship agreements and have worked to bring unique opportunities to our sponsors that would differentiate them in the marketplace, while simultaneously eliminating items that had lesser value and higher costs. Our goal of increasing the net revenue was realized last year and should be further enhanced in 2009-10.
• We created new reporting and reviewing functions that allow us to look at each individual deal and type of partnership feature. This allows us to streamline what we are doing for our sponsors to maximize their reach and scope to our fans.
• We have increased the use of trade agreements with corporate partners to offset athletics expenses. This year alone, we will add over $300,000 in value to help athletics grow without growing the budget. This includes agreements with media partners, hotels, restaurants, dealerships, and more.
• We have created other strategic partnerships to help us promote to the entirety of the region through radio, television, print and other mediums, meaning that more people in more locations are being touched by Aggie athletics than ever before.

There are many more examples of things that we have massaged and changed to make reaching out to our fans more effective. These changes and enhancements will continue as long as I sit in this chair. As I have said on many occasions, there were many things that needed attention. Setting priorities on which to fix first was perhaps the most difficult aspect of the job. With limited resources, both in terms of human and financial, we have had to tackle things that can have the greatest long-term impact first, even though they may not be the most noticeable or exciting.

As you enjoy following the Aggies this fall, please know that we are striving to make supporting the Aggies an easy and fun part of your life.