Sis-boom-bah! Rah-rah-rah! Go University of Phoenix
Those of you (mis)fortunate enough to live in a part of the country that is not - as Boston currently is - in SUPER BOWL, ALL THE TIME, EVERYTIME mode. Or who don’t give a rap about the where-what-how of this blessed event, may not know that the game - excuse me - THE GAME - is being played at the University of Phoenix Stadium.
What’s peculiar about this is, of course, that the University of Phoenix is a non-traditional school. It’s hundreds-of-thousands of students (I almost typed “users”) are scattered all across the country. Some take classes on line, others in satellite “campuses” around the country. It’s a no-nonsense, just the facts sort of enterprise. (And it is, in fact, an enterprise: a for profit outfit, with nary an ivy covered hall in sight.)
Students don’t go to UofP for a four year, quasi-vacation for which parents will pay to have their kids make friends, figure out “what’s next,” and (sort of) grow up. UofP is a lot more purposeful than that.I took a quick look at their web site - which, I’ve got a tell you doesn’t give away all that much unless you’re will to give them your info (this being a business, after al), and the only course that sounded at all liberal artsy-fartsy was a BS in Psychology. And the BS is probably a dead give-away that there’s a pragmatic aspect to this degree. Mostly it’s business courses.
Without a central campus, without a traditional student body, UofP is also devoid of a lot of what we associate with college: dorms, the caf, the campus hangout, the off campus hangout, frats, sororities, keg parties, loud music, screedy newspapers, etc. (Don’t know whether their student body members are FaceBookers at all.)
What they also don’t have is sports. No teams. No ath-a-letes. No cheerleaders. No mascot. (I guess if they have school colors, they’d be shades of green.)
What the University of Phoenix does have is a big league stadium, which they purchased the naming rights to a few years ago - a marketing spend of over $150M for 20 years of their name in lights. UofP stadium is home to an NFL team - the Arizona Cardinals. If you’re scratching your head, they were the St. Louis Football Cardinals, before that team snowbirded off to Phoenix, after which the LA Rams tucked tail and left La-La-Land for St. Louis, perhaps the first and only time in history that this sort of reverse migration occurred.
At first blush, the idea of an academic institution - however mercenary, practical, and (un)pretentious it may be - buying naming rights to a sports stadium seems peculiar. Then again, most colleges and universities wouldn’t have the scratch to make this sort of purchase - even the flush schools want to use their endowment money to subsidize students, build out their campus, and woo name brand professors. (Can you imagine Harvard buying naming rights? Nope - I believe they’ve got such an ace brand that people pay them to use their name.)
I’m sure that true NFL fans were already aware of UofP stadium, but it will be interesting to see how many more students learn about University of Phoenix from the Super Bowl. I’m sure they have their metrics-machinery in place to figure out how these naming rights translate into customer, errrrr, student acquisition.
In any case, we ought to be happy that Dear Old Alma Mater, University of Phoenix, bought the stadium naming rights.
An Arizona restaurant chain apparently tried to grab the glory, but apparently their name - Pink Taco - was found to be a bit off-putting. (Personally, I’d never heard the term, but I have a decent enough imagination. It certainly makes Hooters look like wholesome family fun, eh?)
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Hi Maureen,
Wow! I knew that tomorrow’s Super Bowl was being played at the University of Phoenix stadium.
And in the back of my mind, I knew that the University of Phoenix was to say the least a non-traditional university.
I just didn’t connect the dots on linkage.
I’m curious as to why the NFL made a choice like this, that could be controversial, when the NFL usually tries so hard to sidestep controversy.
There are some interesting notes in the WikiPedia article on Super Bowl XLII regarding the city/host selection process at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_XLII#Host_selection_process
(As an side… In the spirit of full-disclosure, I went to a college/university that’s been around since the 18th century (1766), Rutgers College, and does in fact still have Ivy on some walls on the old College Avenue Campus. Many confuse Rutgers as part of the Ivy League. But it’s not.)
Does this mean that the NFL is giving a thumbs-up to non-traditional distance learning?
That would be a pretty wild leap given how much professional football talent is developed on big schools’ college football programs.
Thanks for pointing this issue out.
Interesting issue. One one hand, I can see the “strategy” plain as day: in addition to pure awareness, you add the aura of a good old “brick and mortar” institution and reinforce the fact that yes, it does really have a Phoenix home. Adds some credibility, in many ways.
On the other hand, once you understand the naming rights deal, it does make you wonder how, when many universities are struggling for funding, a for-profit version can afford that kind of swag for promotion! And, to the degree that making itself known to college-choosing kids is important, they’ll be a little disappointed once they find out it has no sports component, and isn’t necessarily in nice, warm Phoenix after all!
Bottom line, though, is a personal one. I am a big sports fan, and teach at a university. I knew the Super Bowl was in Phoenix, and I watched the game quite closely. It was not until reading your blog that I knew the stadium carried that name. So either it wasn’t mentioned much, or else I subconsciously dismissed it as the facility for some school in Phoenix, without ever connecting it to THAT University of Phoenix!