Qwest will be the title sponsor of arguably the biggest annual sports contest in the state: the University of Colorado-Colorado State University football game Sept. 9 at Invesco Field at Mile High.
The sponsorship is the latest sports branding deal by the Denver-based phone company in its core 14-state region.
Qwest Field is where pro football’s Seattle Seahawks play, and Qwest Center in Omaha is home to college and minor-league teams.
Qwest declined to disclose how much the sponsorship of the Rocky Mountain Showdown will cost over its three-year life.
Similar collegiate matchups around the country cost sponsoring companies in the “low to mid-six figures annually,” said Dave Smrek of Adrenalin, a Denver-based sports marketing firm involved in branding the event.
The past two years, the game was played at Folsom Field in Boulder and did not have a corporate sponsor.
“My ROI (return on investment) is tied to our goals and objectives. We crunch things pretty hard,” said Rich Karlis, director of Qwest’s corporate marketing and a former Broncos placekicker. “It’s got to deliver for as many pieces of the business as possible.”
Karlis said Qwest plans to pitch a tent at the stadium, where more than 76,000 fans are expected, to promote its high-speed Internet and TV service. It’s also planning related retail-sales campaigns in CU’s hometown of Boulder and CSU’s hometown of Fort Collins, Karlis said.
The Qwest sponsorship of the game could grow into a long-term partnership with TV and other advertising tie-ins, said Eric Wright of Joyce Julius & Associates, a sports marketing research firm in Ann Arbor, Mich.
College Sports TV will broadcast the Sept. 9 game, Qwest said in a statement. Dr Pepper is the presenting sponsor. Other sponsors include Macy’s and the Denver Newspaper Agency, which runs the business operations of The Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News.
Staff writer Beth Potter can be reached at 303-820-1503 or bpotter@denverpost.com.
