• Loading stock data...
Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Fundamentals: Cole Gahagan, Learfield IMG College

Learfield IMG College President and CEO Cole Gahagan joined Fundamentals with Ian Thomas to chat about the direction of college sports marketing, the effects of COVID-19, and more. 

Gahagan was appointed president and CEO of the college sports marketing company on April 3 and started the conversation by discussing why it went against conventional wisdom and changed its leadership structure amid a global pandemic – explaining there’s downtime in what otherwise would be a hectic portion of the year.

He also discussed the surprising speed at which Learfield and IMG College integrated following a nearly $2 billion merger in December 2018. Other highlights below:

On Learfield IMG College’s future – 4:00: 

Gahagan: “Going forward, we have a responsibility to continue to evolve and move this industry into a new era of opportunity and business growth. And I think that you’ll see a good bit of our efforts to expand beyond just the boundaries of a campus, the traditional boundaries of an arena or a stadium … we have such a terrific opportunity.”

On COVID-19’s effect on the business – 13:00: 

Gahagan: “No matter what you do in the business of sports and entertainment, your business has been unavoidably impacted by what surrounds all of us right now. The next several years are going to be very different relative to what we’ve all known in the modern history of, of sports and entertainment and as a result of that, we’re all pivoting. 

Everybody is having to think about its business differently today than we did 60 days, 90 days ago. So we’re in the same boat that I think every company is out there. The good news for us though, is it hasn’t required us to go and suddenly think of new areas to go invest in or have to drum up new opportunities to go and invest in. 

These were things that we were doing no matter what we were investing in data infrastructure. We’ve already started that in the past year, we were building out our media infrastructure and we were building out our plans to be a really good creative and content-driven and fan-driven media company.

We were already heading down the pathway of digital initiatives to go alongside and sort of augment what we were doing in the traditional marketing space. These were things that we were going to do no matter what. COVID-19 and the sort of climate we find ourselves surrounded by has really sort of put us in a position to accelerate.”

On the balance between traditional college sports marketing and extending beyond the playing field – 16:40: 

Gahagan: “If we’re not careful, we can get caught in a bit of a misconception that traditional sports marketing will go away. And I absolutely don’t think that that’s the case. And that’s why I always talk about the areas in which we’re investing being balanced with traditional sports marketing. And when I say on balance, I mean actually being the core mechanisms that are going to unlock really meaningful growth in the years ahead for the stakeholders in our business and predominantly our university partners and our brand partners.”

On the potential effect of NIL rule changes on the business – 20:30: 

Gahagan: “It’s going to be an impact on our entire college athletics business to be certain. It’s going to have an impact on every member of the ecosystem … an impact across the board.

You know, I think it’s difficult to say with certainty what any of that looks like yet, because as you certainly know, all that happened last week was we had a series of recommendations come down from this year-long study and analysis that was being conducted by the committee.

And now on the heels of that, of those recommendations, we’ve got several months in front of us of further consideration, further discussions amongst the stakeholders in our industry. And we’ll certainly be a part of that. 

When it comes to our outlook on this and, for that matter, our involvement on this over the next several months is not that different from what our involvement has been in the last 12 months, which is continuing to provide information to those that are gonna make the decisions to hopefully put them in a really good position to make good decisions is and not just with our multimedia rights business, which we’ve talked a good bit about this morning.

As it starts to take shape, we’re going to have a responsibility to lean forward and say, Okay, here’s what’s required. Now, here’s the various technologies that we have that can be added to the mix to go in and help all the stakeholders and in this now new landscape and what’s the best way to take that to market in that helpful way.”

How brands might react to being able to work with college athletes – 25:00:

Gahagan: “It’s hard to say. I don’t know how brands are going to think about the allocation of their dollars across a school or property versus an athlete. There is probably a good proxy that’s out there already in the professional sports business and you can get a good sense for the number of brands that continue to invest in sports properties versus those that invest in pro athletes. And what the data tells us and has told us over the last decade plus is that the spends with the properties continues to grow significantly year over year for a number of reasons.”

How fans will come back to sports following COVID-19 – 30:00:

Gahagan: “When that confidence is pretty quickly built amongst fans, that when they go to a game or they go to an arena, that their safety is priority number one, and they’re going to be safe. [When that happens] we’re going to marry two things that matter most.

When you can sort of marry that passion and excitement over the return of life in sports with this reassurance that you’re going to be safe when you’re here. I think the combination of those two things are going to pull fans back to our events pretty quickly.”

Linkedin
Whatsapp
Copy Link
Link Copied
Link Copied

What to Read

UCLA’s Joey Aguilar Transferring to Tennessee in Quarterback Swap

UCLA quarterback Joey Aguilar will trade places with Tennessee’s Nico Iamaleava.
Maxx Crosby

Maxx Crosby Is First NFL Player To Make College Assistant GM Leap

Stephen Curry and Trae Young took similar basketball roles last month.
Trae Young

How the Hawks Ended Up With Two College GMs on an NBA..

Trae Young and Terance Mann are actively working for their schools.
Apr 4, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) goes to the basket against the Phoenix Suns during the first quarter at TD Garden.

Why Sports Dealmaking Is Defying the M&A Slump

Private capital, media rights, and fan loyalty make sports a safe harbor.

Featured Today

May 31, 2025; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Sydney McLaughin-Levrone (USA) reacts before the women's 100m hurdles during the Grand Slam Track Philadelphia at Franklin Field
exclusive

Track’s New Money Is Running Into Old Problems

The sport’s big-money era has hit some speed bumps in 2025.
Bobbleheads are seen at Vintage Indy Sports, Tuesday, April 29, 2025 in Speedway. The local sports memorabilia store opened recently.
July 12, 2025

Baseball’s Bobbleheads Are the Center of the Collectibles Universe

Baseball’s most important keepsake drives long lines—and big business.
Rimouski, QC - JUNE 1: Final Game of the 2025 Memorial Cup between the Medicine Hats Tigers and the London Knights on June 1, 2025, at the Colisée Financière Sun Life in Rimouski, Qc.
July 11, 2025

CHL Is Facing a ‘Pandora’s Box’ of Questions Amid NCAA Talent Departure

As players defect to college, the Canadian Hockey League won’t cede ground.
Jun 28, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh (29) bats during the game between the Texas Rangers and the Seattle Mariners at Globe Life Field.
July 9, 2025

The Torpedo Bat Business Is Still Going Strong: ‘Here to Stay’

Demand for the oddly shaped bats has stayed strong across the sport.

Fundamentals: Andrea Williams (Women In Sports)

Welcome to the latest episode of Fundamentals, a Front Office Sports interview…
November 17, 2020

Fundamentals: Women In Esports

On this episode of Fundamentals, three guests join the show to discuss the opportunities for women in the gaming industry, as well as the challenges they face.
February 24, 2021

Fundamentals: Women in Sports

Welcome to the latest episode of Fundamentals, a Front Office Sports interview…
Sponsored

Game On: Portfolio Players Stories, Brought to You by E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley

Dealmaker Jeffrey Kaplan maps the evolution of sports as an asset class
September 22, 2020

Fundamentals: USTA CEO Michael Dowse

Dowse, the CEO and executive director of the national governing body for tennis, discussed the unique challenges of a fan-less US Open and growing the sport in the U.S.
July 28, 2020

Fundamentals: RISE CEO Diahann Billings-Burford

Diahann Billings-Burford is the CEO of RISE, a national nonprofit whose mission is to use sports as a means of eliminating racial discrimination and acting as a vehicle for social justice and societal equality.
July 24, 2020

Fundamentals: MLL Commissioner Sandy Brown

Sandy Brown — commissioner of Major League Lacrosse — discusses the logistics and realities of the league’s return to play with a single-location tournament format, along with the growth of the sport as a whole.
July 17, 2020

Fundamentals: Evil Geniuses CEO Nicole LaPointe Jameson

Nicole LaPointe Jameson, CEO of professional esports team Evil Geniuses, discusses the state of esports and what is next for the organization.