By Charlie Leffler
During the first week of June, the U of L Athletic Department broke new ground by completing its first-ever online auction. Over the past year, much has been made of the financial deficit that the athletic department faced, and the online auction was an attempt to find new ways to increase revenue to the department. In the eBay-style auction, people could place bids on any of 80 different items from a variety of sources.
Louisville athletic administrators were uncertain what kind of response they would get from the auction, but after it was completed, they deemed it a huge success. During the one month period that the auction ran online, it received bids from 14 states and grossed approximately $12,000.
Associate Athletic Director for Advancement Mike Mangeot organized the auction and is happy with its outcome, considering that there was very little opportunity to promote the event. Without athletic events on campus, responses were virtually limited to word of mouth and fans who happened to check out the U of L web site.
“Usually you have auctions in-season,” said Mangeot. ” We didn’t have that opportunity but we wanted to try it before we got into the fall season, kind of work some bugs out.”
One of the items to receive a top bid was the use of the Cardinal Caboose for the East Carolina football game. The package included 30 tickets to the game and brought in over $1000.
Another unique experience was dinner for eight with football head coach John L. Smith and his wife Diana, which went for $650.
The athletic department tried to place items in the auction that would draw interest. Among them: a variety of personal lessons from many of the Louisville head coaches, a golf outing with Athletic Director Tom Jurich, the opportunity to be a ballboy or girl at a Louisville men’s basketball game, and having the Cardinal Bird come to your child’s next birthday party.
“What we tried to do was focus on some unique items,” said Mangeot. “You can get autographed items and sports memorabilia anywhere, but we were hoping to try to find some more personal, interactive, one on one things. Or as we termed it, a once in a lifetime experience.”
And for those who were wondering which Louisville head coach was more popular? A John L. Smith autographed football helmet brought in $460, while a Rick Pitino autographed basketball went for $420.
The athletic department is already planning its next auction for this fall. Check out UofLsports.com for more details.
