Part one/Three-part series

Four screens on the suspended scoreboard in Hilton Coliseum show the Cyclones are winning. They show how many points each player has scored. They show the number of time-outs left in the game.

And they show an animation of a cup being filled with fizzing Coca-Cola.

The cup of Coke is but one sign of the growing financial force of corporate sponsorship behind Iowa State and most major-college athletic programs.

In 1992 Iowa State joined the growing trend of national universities that accept sponsorship dollars from corporations like Coca-Cola to help support collegiate sports programs. The programs stem from rising costs and pressure to win.

“Escalating costs across the boards cause us to seek new and additional sources of revenue,” said Scott Barnes, ISU’s associate athletic director for development and special projects.

Athletic marketing officials from Big 12 universities report that corporate sponsorship numbers go up each year. And the recently formed Big 12 superconference has widened the scope.

Of the ISU athletic department’s $15.86 million annual budget, 3 percent comes from corporate sponsors.

The remaining 97 percent is from ticket sales, media agreements, annual donations, conference revenue and university support. A decade ago most schools had never heard of a corporate sponsor for athletics.

As an unwritten rule, the more high-profile a college athletic department is, the more corporate sponsors it attracts. For exposure’s sake, college athletic officials say successful football and men’s basketball programs, the big money-makers, are a must.

Three main sponsors

Iowa State, which is in its fourth year of a corporate sponsorship program, has 25 to 30 individual sponsors within the athletic department. These sponsors contribute a combined total of about $400,000 annually.

Iowa State’s corporate sponsors include three main partners: Coca-Cola, Norwest Bank of Iowa and Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc.

University officials would not say how much each company contributes.

“The income certainly has significant impact,” Barnes said.

Companies that sponsor the athletic department are usually solicited by university officials. “We have family-oriented companies we are proud to be associated with,” he said. “We want to be sure the relationship we create with corporate sponsors is in line with the university and intercollegiate athletics.”

Like other Big 12 universities, most ISU sponsors are local or regional.

Some of the athletic department’s local sponsors, besides its main ones, include Garden Cafe, Benson Motor, and Iowa Network Services in Des Moines.

National sponsors, like Coca-Cola, work through local offices.

The revenue from these sponsors is portioned out within different areas of the athletic department, depending on where funds are most needed.

“It goes to the fact of the budget,” Barnes said. “[The money] is relayed because of revenue generated endeavors. Revenues come in and are used for anything to meet bottom-line obligations of the budget.”

Corporate benefits

Iowa State’s main sponsors say they’re involved to bring recognition to the school.

“We were impressed with Gene Smith (ISU athletic director) and the athletic department and their efforts to bring national recognition to Iowa State University athletics,” said Russ Cross, president of Norwest Bank in Ames.

Norwest is also a corporate sponsor at the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa.

Eric Fogg, program manager for community investment with Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., in Des Moines, said the company contributes regularly to national and international educational organizations, like Iowa State’s.

“[It’s] one of the ways we think we can put into the system to make us a world-class system,” Fogg said.

Pioneer is also a sponsor at Iowa, UNI, Drake, Western Illinois, Purdue and Illinois State.

Though athletic sponsors get publicity from announcements at events, signs with company logos and other perks for their contributions, corporate officials say the direct benefits are minimal. Sponsorship, at almost any level, is seen as a good public relations move for large and small companies.

“Certainly we have [new customers],” Norwest’s Cross said. “It’s difficult to measure if we have gained new customers because of [our sponsorship].”