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• Allocating Sponsorships Revenue Procedures

Allocating Sponsorships Revenue Procedures

Background 

William & Mary (W&M) has contracted with Van Wagner Sports Entertainment (VWSE) to organize, develop, market and sell sponsorship programs for the university. As part of that agreement, W&M and VWSE share in the revenue generated from the sponsorship of the university’s athletics programs and other campus assets.  Sponsorship revenue is expected to be both a source of revenue for university business units that attract sponsorship interest as well as for the university as it looks to grow unrestricted sources of strategic revenue. 

Governance for the VWSE contract includes an implementation committee that meets quarterly and reviews new offers, opportunities, production reports, and unique revenue splits.  The implementation committee makes recommendations to a sponsorship steering committee. 

Proposed Allocation of Net Revenues

After accounting for the agreed upon revenue share between VWSE and W&M and income guarantees stipulated in university contract, including revenue guarantees for Athletics, W&M will allocate net sponsorship revenues above the guarantee as follows:

• The participating business unit shall receive 60% of the net new revenue with 40% of the net new revenue being allocated to the university for strategic purposes.
• To the extent multiple business units are involved in a sponsorship arrangement, VWSE shall recommend to the implementation committee on the front-end of a proposed program, who will assess the proposal and advance a recommendation to the steering committee on how those funds should be allocated amongst the business units
• If a business unit(s) incurs incremental costs that exceed the 60% share of revenue, the COO may allocate a portion of the university’s share to the business unit(s).
• Revenues will be allocated to the business units quarterly.
• In instances where VWSE works with a sponsor to contribute goods or service as new barter in accordance with contract terms, W&M owes VSWE 50% of the value of the bartered item. In those instances, the business unit(s) receiving the bartered good or service will be responsible for covering the amount owed to VWSE.  The university’s budget office will work with the business unit(s) to execute that transaction. 
• For example, if a caterer provides $5,000 of food for an event free of charge as its sponsorship contribution, the budget office will work with the business unit receiving the food to transfer $2,500 to cover the amount owed to VWSE.  

Transition of Sponsorships

Under the arrangements of the partnership with VWSE, the university expects that all business units will work through VWSE to coordinate sponsorship activity.  Recognizing that some units of the university previously managed sponsorships directly, the university commits through FY22 to ensuring that annual sponsorship revenue generated through the partnership with VWSE does not fall below FY19 levels.

In instances where the business unit has a multi-year commitment or contract, the university expects that the business unit will manage that sponsorship through the end of the current contract or obligation period after which time the unit will work with VWSE to bring that sponsorship under this policy.