New Episode of BBOC: Wake Forest University Director of Athletics John Currie

New Episode of BBOC: Wake Forest University Director of Athletics John Currie

On the latest episode of JohnWallStreet Presents: Big Business on Campus, a college sports podcast powered by Playfly Sports and sponsored by Short’s Sports Travel Logistics, JohnWallStreet Founder Corey Leff and Playfly Sports Chairman Michael Schreiber sit down with Wake Forest University Vice President and Director of Athletics John Currie.

In this 40-minute conversation, we touch on:

The Grounds: The School’s 100-acre, $250mm Mixed-Use Development Project - WFU and its development partner (Carter Front Street) initially viewed The Grounds as a land-value –and brand-value– play. The initial goal was to improve an underutilized, blighted corridor that created a poor first impression amongst visitors coming to campus.

“Elevating this land and the quality of it [was always] going to elevate the brands of Winston-Salem and Wake Forest University,” Currie said. “Along the way, [we realized] there are ‘events’ that could provide some real capital revenue, and at the same time, the asset value of what we own has increased dramatically.”

Meeting Changing Donor Expectations – Donors today demand personalization, proximity, and visible impact if they’re going to stroke a check. To deliver, WFU pivoted from its established centralized fundraising model to one that is sport-specific–and it’s making a notable difference.

“There’s a great market [for donations] if you can spend time and build some incredible relationships,” Currie said. “This year, for example, because of strong individual donor relationships, we got a large gift to name our women’s golf head coaching position. We’re on a path to fully fund that sport by going back to what's core of [college athletics], relationships, emotion, identity, and connection.”

The ACC’s New Media Rev-Share Model – WFU will receive less television revenue this year than it got last year. But the school recognizes that the ACC allocating a significant percentage of conference base media rights fees to actual percentage of total viewership is good for the collective.

“The model is actually progressive,” Currie said. “It incentivizes behavior in scheduling, to think about how [individual schools] can be most creative so that [the conference can] have the best [possible] window, and that means we’re being a better partner. At Wake Forest, we're willing to move a game to week zero, or to Thursday night, because we might have a better window [and more exposure] on those days.”

📺 Watch the full video on JohnWallStreet’s YouTube Page.
🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

In the meantime, make sure to check out our sponsor, Short’s Sport Travel Logistics—the fastest-growing company in collegiate athletics travel, and the trusted choice of over 108 athletic departments nationwide. Short’s simplifies every aspect of team travel (think: air charters, commercial flights, buses, and hotels) and helps to turn complex logistics into a competitive advantage.

Previous episodes of BBOC, including sit-downs with Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman, University of Arizona AD Desiree Reed-Francois, Maryland AD Jim Smith, American Conference Commissioner Tim Pernetti and Pittsburgh AD Allen Greene, can be found on JohnWallStreet’s YouTube channel.

Thanks for listening.