The Mountain West Conference

The Mountain West Conference membership has evolved dramatically over the past six months and I am not sure it is done (August 30, 2010). We all know that Boise State has been added and then recently the conference moved to add Nevada and Fresno State University. The addition of these three fine programs will add depth and quality to a great league. We look forward to welcoming them all to UW for competition in the future.

As you all are aware, BYU has decided to go independent in football and to accomplish that task they have chosen to leave the MWC as of the 2011-12 season. The departure of BYU from our league will have an impact, but as we saw 30 years ago when Arizona and Arizona State departed the conference, we will survive and we will continue to develop with the partners of the MWC.

Indoor Tennis Facility

We recently broke ground on our new Indoor Tennis Facility, which is scheduled to be completed in late February of 2011. We are looking forward to this wonderful addition to our facilities as it will be a great asset to our university and our up-and-coming women's tennis program. The facility will include four indoor courts and when completely finished will have offices, locker rooms, entry-way and a mezzanine level for viewing. We have the funding plan in place to complete the courts and structure, but to complete the offices, locker rooms and mezzanine as we want, we will need to secure a minimum of $500,000 from donors and corporations. If you are interested in supporting tennis in Wyoming, please contact me directly at 307-766-2292. We have some really exciting "naming opportunities" in this project.

Athletics Budget/Revenue

As we prepare for the future here in athletics, we are planning to focus much of our external efforts around a goal of $4 million in ticket revenue. This would be a big step in our overall goal of reaching a $30M budget. We currently operate with a budget of roughly $26M and generate about $3M in ticket revenue. Hopefully as fans, you will notice a more aggressive marketing and promotions plan that will help us move the revenue-meter by nearly 25 percent - this is a really big step if we are ever truly going to compete at the level we all expect. If you remember, we created the $3.3 Club in Cowboy Joe Club over two years ago with a goal of raising $3.3M in revenue through the club. The goal was a big stretch from the consistent growth we had been achieving in previous years. We developed a great strategy with the Cowboy Joe staff and board of directors and achieved the $3.3M two years earlier than our original goal. We are going to take much of the same approach we used in Cowboy Joe Club. The plan to reach $4M will be aggressive, professional, and will require a grass-roots effort of sales from all of our constituents around Wyoming - and that includes you! If you can help us sell additional tickets to ANY Cowboy and Cowgirl event, please do so. We have upgraded our website to be more interactive and sales friendly. We have created Facebook and Twitter accounts in order to better communicate with our fans, and we are exploring all social media alternatives as we continue to grow.

We hope you enjoy your time in Laramie and on our great campus! Go Pokes!

Tom Burman

Wyoming Athletics

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