Prime Time is worth almost $100 million.
That’s what the University of Colorado is saying about the financial impact Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders has provided in his first season as Buffaloes head coach.
Sanders has Colorado (3-0) ranked No. 19 in the country and turned the Buffaloes into must-see TV as he and his son, Heisman Trophy candidate Shedeur Sanders, find ways to use the media to hype their games.
Whether it’s Deion “keeping receipts,” Shedeur taking offense to previous snubs by opposing head coaches or Deion clapping back at critics who slam his theatrics, Colorado has become America’s team during the first month of the 2023 college football season.
According to the Daily Camera in Boulder, Colo., university spokesperson Steve Hurlbert said the school tried to determine the equivalent ad value of the earned media coverage of the football program since the start of the season.
The number Colorado came up with? Almost $91 million.
That’s on top of the record-breaking ticket and merchandise sales at Colorado, with the school reporting an 892% increase in team store revenue this year and a 2,544% surge year-over-year for the month of September.
According to the Hurlbert, Colorado has sold out every home game this season for the first time in school history.
And it’s not just the university which is benefiting from the football program’s winning ways.
Restaurants, hotels and retail businesses are getting a boost from the Buffaloes.
The home opener on Sept. 9 vs. Nebraska (a 36-14 Colorado win) delivered the Boulder area $17 million in direct and indirect impact on the community, according to Hurlbert.
That’s up 70% from Colorado’s game on the same weekend in 2022.
Colorado issued 848 media credentials for the Nebraska game and Hurlbert said that number will go up for the Buffaloes’ date with No. 5 USC on Sept. 30.
The Sanders effect is being felt nationwide.
Both ESPN and FOX Sports brought their college football pregame shows to Colorado for last week’s game against Colorado State.
The Buffaloes won, 43-35, in double overtime.
Some 9.3 million viewers watched the Colorado-Colorado State game, making it ESPN’s fifth most-watched college football game ever.
The Nebraska game was the most-watched Pac-12 regular-season game in FOX history and the 10th-most watched regular-season college football game ever for the network.
“CU Boulder has been the epicenter of the national sports world, which has provided unprecedented exposure for our university across the country,” Chancellor Phil DiStefano said in a statement. “I am impressed by the excitement that has permeated campus, which is less quantifiable but certainly as important as record-setting merchandise and ticket sales.”
Despite the early success and all that has come with it, Sanders said he has no desire to leave Colorado for a coaching gig in the NFL.
He also said his sons, Shedeur the QB and Shilo the safety, will remain at Colorado in 2024 despite being eligible for the NFL Draft next year.
Up next for the Buffaloes is a top-25 showdown with No. 10 Oregon on Saturday.