Deion Sanders' first year at Colorado and the list of "Prime Effect" achievements

The eyes of the college football world will be focus once again on Coach Prime and the Buffs

Colorado's Deion Sanders named SI Sportsperson of the Year /

Deion Sanders has stated multiple times “we can’t just win at football, we have to win at everything”. On the eve of the Colorado Buffaloes 2024 season kickoff, it seems like "Perfect Timing" to give Coach Prime and the Football program their flowers and reflect on the achievements that came under Coach Prime’s watch in year one.

Exposure and media coverage at an all-time high

While it has been said by Sanders multiple times, he is judged by more than football. In a little more than 24 hours, the football part will be on full display before a nationally televised audience. We'll start with the non-football ‘wins’ Prime and his staff provided to the masses. Deion “Bucky” Sanders Jr, has been at the forefront of utilizing his channels to a level most could not conceive of 20+ years ago.

Bucky did not create Well Off Media when they arrived in Boulder. To give them credit, that train had a full head of steam by the time the Sanders family arrived in Boulder. However, anyone with an eye for details or even broadcast experience can see Bucky’s "Product” has grown and evolved. Sanders is not the only person contributing to the Coach Prime in-house media team, but he is without question, the best and biggest contributor to that machine. What Bucky has provided in the last calendar year plus for the fans cannot be understated. In time, Sanders will be able to look back and see himself as not only an innovator like his father, but quite possibly the grandfather for the media concept that should become a “new standard” everywhere.

Sanders and the other arms of the Coach Prime media team have delivered content and dare we say, inside access remotely that has not been matched by anyone anywhere. Coach Prime has always been innovative. From Ft. Myers, Florida when he created the “Prime Time” persona, to Florida State, and eventually the NFL and beyond. He has maintained one of the most recognizable brands on the planet from Jackson State to Colorado.

Deion Sanders' media team is a structure, product and process that every noteworthy sports team or franchise should study and implement. Well Off Media and the rest of that team provide something to the fans no other entity in American sports has been able to even come close to anything Bucky has done. When we say “daily basis” please understand, that is ‘literal’. There is not a practice, not a press conference, not a single goings-on that occurs in or around the football team where Bucky and the rest of the media team aren’t diligently at work to provide the fans access they otherwise simply would not have. Regardless of those fans’ geographic proximity to the program. The online presence Bucky and the team provide is unparalleled. Being on the ground in Boulder allows even more perspective into the brand, team and operation. Whether it’s the athletic director Rick George, who always has time for fans, the sports information director, Curtis Snyder, or his staff, the interactions have always been very solid. The athletic department in year one was nothing but accommodating.

The broadcast viewership aspect for Colorado Football

The hype and exposure of Prime’s Buffaloes began as early as December of 2022. The nine months that followed would be the most exciting time to be a Buffs fan since Rashaan Salaam’s 2,000-yard season or Bill McCartney's successful seasons before that. The exposure and build up to the 2023 season would pale in comparison to what happened on game day. The euphoria most fans felt in that moment would serve as just an appetizer. Despite the season not ending the way the team would have wanted, those first three weeks will be an experience Buffs fans will tell their grandchildren about. Being able to handle Nebraska at home kept the over 5,000 day winning streak alive over CU's heated rival. ESPN Gameday and Fox Big Noon Kickoff festivities that happened concurrently will never happen again. The two biggest broadcast networks that cover college football felt that matchup was so important to the landscape of college football on that day.

Deion Sanders gives ESPN and Paul Finebaum reality check on media coverage

Every outlet wanted a piece of the action. Stephen A Smith and the First Take crew did a live broadcast outside of Folsom Field. Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff was there three times in a 14-week schedule. CBS's editorial show '60 Minutes' rolled into town to do a special interview with Coach Prime. Coach Prime himself graced the covers of Time Magazine, and was our very own SI Sportsperson of the Year. It was a whirlwind, to say the least. The totality of revenue generated just based on media exposure alone was north of $340 Million dollars generated by or for Coach Prime and his Buffaloes. In conjunction with creating an unprecedented level of hype around the program, TV viewership would follow. In a season when the Buffaloes did not compete for a national championship, and was not in the College Football Playoff, they still managed to have five of the top 25 watched college football games in all of College Football. This included the highest-rated and most-viewed game of the season, not including the National Championship game.  After Michigan, Ohio State, Alabama and Georgia, it was Colorado at the top.

Colorado games ‘averaged’ 7.2 Million viewers. Nebraska, Colorado State and Oregon were all over 9M per game. To put this into a clearer context, of all the top 25 most viewed games in college football last season, every game on that list involves a program viewed as a football power. Those previously mentioned plus, Texas, Oklahoma, LSU, Auburn, Florida State, Notre Dame, etc. 10-15 traditional ‘football powers’, and Colorado. That’s the power of the Prime Effect.

Hot ticket items at Folsom Field and beyond

Another fantastic factor that plays into exposure and television viewership is ticket sales. Last year, CU sold out every single home game. That was a first in CU history. The Colorado Buffaloes have never sold out every home game in one season. Until Coach Prime did it in his inaugural season. That stat is even more impressive when you consider Colorado Buffaloes games on the road sold out. Let's be clear about this. There were road games that sold out simply because that team was playing Colorado. Comparatively, those programs didn’t sell out the other games where non-CU teams traveled to play there. For the second season in a row and only the tenth time in program history,

Coach Prime’s Buffs have sold out season tickets. The Baylor and Cincinnati games are completely sold out and North Dakota State and others are remarkably close. Still candidly surprised, NDSU isn’t completely sold out yet. This next achievement is one every Buffs fan or even casual college football fan looking into CU should have predicted. Colorado Buffaloes merchandise sales are staggeringly impressive.

The Buffs online shop has confirmed that September 2023 was the biggest single merchandise sales month the program has ever seen. When Deion Sanders was hired in December of 2022, it was the second highest. The rise in merchandise sales is something most fans of sports in general should feel. At one point in time, the Colorado Buffaloes logos and gear rivaled that of the LA Raiders and LA Kings that were made so popular in the 80s and early 90s by rap group NWA.

Shedeur Sanders signs NIL with Nike after Coach Prime's retro Diamond Turf line

The merchandising push was so significant, it went beyond sports. Celebrities and regular people of all levels and tax brackets were wearing CU black and gold. The popularity grew to such levels that it transcended sports and moved into something even larger. These previously mentioned achievements and accolades are fantastic, unprecedented even. By and large though, these are football specific achievements and benefits. Any coach in the country would be ecstatic to see these numbers and this impact from the football program, but the real measure of your impact must go beyond football.

Come for the hype, stay for the education

For Coach Prime, that was always the level he expected to operate at. How do you measure the impact beyond football? Start with University Applications. Not football scholarships, not football players. Admissions applications. Applications to attend CU Boulder as an academic student (with no ties to football) increased 20% in one year. This includes a raw number of over 67,000 prospective students applying to be a part of the CU student experience since Coach Prime’s arrival. That increase also includes an 18% increase in out of state applications. Consider, an out of state applicant does so understanding it will likely cost more from out of state. That number carries with it weight and consideration behind that decision. Saving the best admissions number for last, wrap your head around this and everything it implies.

Boulder specifically is objectively a gorgeous location, while it is a fantastic academic institution. Census demographics wise, Boulder is not a town known for population diversity. In 2023 the University of Colorado saw a demographic shift of celebratory proportions. Prospective student applications from students who identify as Black or African American rose by almost 51%. Applications from students who identify as “non-white” rose almost 30% (29.3%). The impact of Coach Prime and the football program’s popularity and staying power was so significant it affected the diversity of students applying who will likely never step foot on the turf at Folsom Field.

The local economy is booming

Throughout the season, watching the hype and want for success grow, there was one aspect everyone knew was going to be noteworthy, we finally have confirmed numbers on. If Coach Prime is delivering attention, revenue, attention, and a product people want to see, what will the financial benefit be to the city of Boulder? According to the Boulder Convention and Visitors Bureau, the six home games Colorado played in 2023 generated a total of $113.2 Million dollars for the local Boulder economy. Looking at just the Nebraska and USC games alone, the local economic impact was over $20M. As we dig a little deeper, direct ‘visitor’ spending went up $10M. Dig even deeper and the
average increase of and individual spender jumped from an average of $102 to $183 or a 79 percent increase over six years ago. Demographics wise, 20 percent of fans that attend CU Football games are not from this greater Denver/Boulder/Colorado region. Of that 20% that largest number of fans from one state that is not Colorado is Florida and not so predictably Virginia.

When people discuss college football, any number of aspects and factors are discussed. The last factor that comes up in conversation about student athletes is typically the academics. There has always been a stereotype that athletes aren’t great students. In Coach Prime’s world that is not acceptable. Whether it’s recruiting, playing in games, or life after football, Sanders wants and requires smart and disciplined players. It is literally hanging on most walls in the football facility. “Smart, tough, fast, disciplined with character.” It’s the first word in Prime’s famous “what we look for” statement. Once again, Prime and his staff delivered.

Academics at the highest level

The CU Football program achieved a team record 2.932 GPA for the 2024 Spring semester. That was the first time the entire cumulative team GPA reached a number higher than 2.8 in school history. For context, speaking in total average, that means the entire team is “honor roll” level or within striking distance of honor roll. Or if we step out of the realm of averages, it is safe to assume the ‘vast majority’ of players are actually at honor roll level or higher.

In 2023 Travis Hunter was a first team Academic All American. This marks only the second time in program history a player made first team All-American and first team Academic All-American. The last time that happened it was Joe Romig. In 1961. We live in a different world today than it was when we celebrated names like Rashaan Salaam, Kordell Stewart, Bill McCartney and Gary Barnett. It’s a completely different media landscape and Coach Prime is the last person who needs that explained to him. We live in a world the feels significantly smaller due to the advances of social media and the 24-hour news cycle.

Social impact on the outside world

Prime is many things. A once upon a time greatest athlete we’ve ever seen. An incredible football mind. A two sport playmaker at the highest levels we have. A father of five. He is also very much one of today’s greatest promoters and marketers. So it should come as no surprise to anyone that since Prime’s arrival in Boulder, the official social media accounts connected to CU have skyrocketed. At the time Coach Prime was introduced as the new head football coach at the University of Colorado, the “CU Football” had 62K followers on Instagram and almost 99K on Twitter/X. As of today, CUFootball on Instagram has over 1M followers and Twitter/X is approaching 300,000.

Lastly, we need to take a moment and give Coach Prime his flowers in the one area most skeptics assumed he would not participate in. For any of the naysayers, I can personally attest to a fair amount of these first hand. Coach Prime has been extremely active on and outside of campus and his reach to promote other sports for CU as well as other interests within the Boulder community are real. Last semester, Coach Prime guest lectured three times in an official capacity academically.

Professor Prime weighs in with leadership courses

Those students affectionately refer to Coach Prime as Professor Prime as he presided over a class called “Prime Time: Public Performance and Leadership” which is a class offered by the University of Colorado’s College of Media Communications and Information. In addition, Deion Sanders was also the keynote speaker at last spring’s Conference on World Affairs. He was also a guest speaker for the Leeds School of Business and the Law School. Prime was also a special attendee for the grand opening of the Center for African-American Studies on the CU campus. Coach Prime's support is endless. He is at the men’s and women’s basketball games (Prime and Peggy at the CU Events Center was a regular occurrence), the Women’s soccer team very recently, as well as a number of other non-football related events

In no uncertain terms, Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders has changed the popularity, the relevance, the culture, and the diversity, not to mention success in Boulder Colorado in away maybe no other coaching candidate imaginable could do. Once he was announced there was an immediate promise of bringing viewers, money, and attention to a program that struggled at times to be noteworthy or relevant. That promise has been realized 10 times over versus the expectation. One thing can be certain. Coach Prime has delivered on everything he said he was bringing. From the Louis Luggage to the numbers. In his introductory press conference, there was one thing that stood out above everything else.

“All you want is the opportunity to compete, to win. And gosh darn it… Ima give you that," Sanders said.

Coach Prime has delivered it all. From the viewers, fans, revenue, attention, and yes, even the hype. On Thursday night, Colorado will face North Dakota State with Coach Prime and his Buffaloes embarking on the 2024 college football season. They'll be aiming to provide new achievements in Boulder.