Coyle: 'Naming Williams Arena will be a great way of generating some new revenue'

The University of Minnesota is exploring selling the naming rights for The Barn.

Gophers AD Mark Coyle (left) with new men's basketball head coach Niko Medved (right) / Picture via: @tonyliebert (X)

On Thursday, the University of Minnesota announced it was exploring selling the naming rights to historic Williams Arena. Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle, in an interview on KFXN-FM 100.3 on Thursday, stated the desire as part of a need to generate new streams of revenue.

"We started to engage a company called ISE (Independent Sports & Entertainment), and they specialize in naming rights opportunities," Coyle told KFAN's Justin Gaard. "Our goal with Williams Arena, we've got so many great corporations in the Twin Cities and nationally. We feel like our basketball programs, on the women's side is making great progress, I think we're going to make progress with (new men's basketball coach) Niko (Medved). So we just felt like the timing was right to see if we could find a naming partner."

Coyle noted that the University of Minnesota's board of directors has made it clear to him that the athletics department operates with a balanced budget. He also noted that with revenue sharing coming into play over the next year, he's looking at $20.5 million for that, which is why naming rights for the 98-year-old arena are now being explored.

"If we can get a naming partner for Williams Arena, that's money we can invest back into our program. Our men's basketball program, our women's basketball program, our football, our hockey, our gymnastics. We can invest that money back into our student-athlete experience. We're just trying to get creative to generate new revenue," Coyle said. "We feel like we've been good stewards of the resources we've been blessed with, but we just need additional money, especially as we enter this new transformational stage of college athletics. We just feel like naming Williams Arena will be a great way of generating some new revenue we haven't seen in the past."

As for the long-term future of the arena, Coyle said he has not ruled out a new building, but that he does not want to take on new debt with revenue sharing coming into play. However, the idea of a renovation appears to be the more likely route.

"Do I see us building a new arena in the next two, three years? I do not. Do I see us trying to renovate Williams Arena, trying to make some enhancements? I talk about Wrigley Field and what the Cubs did to Wrigley Field and how it's still Wrigley Field, but they made some nice enhancements. Those things are of very much interest to me and I'd like to see what that looks like," Coyle said.

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