The University of Colorado’s president on Wednesday strongly defended the education system’s $5 million deal for naming rights on RTD’s train line to Denver International Airport, saying the move is part of crucial efforts to secure the university’s future.
“We’ve really taken up serious marketing, and that’s what this is about,” Bruce Benson said in an interview with The Denver Post.
CU has come under fire as of late for the costly five-year agreement with the Regional Transportation District with naysayers claiming the funds should have been spent elsewhere.
“Marketing is important if you’re going to survive as a business,” Benson said. “…We have to continue to let people know what we’re doing, where we are doing it.”
A 6-minute video will run on a continuous loop in the airport trains, half of which will include information about CU’s four campuses.
Benson says none of the money used to cover the deal came from public dollars or tuition revenue. Instead, it comes from his own discretionary funds and interest earned off the public university system’s investments.
RTD also sweetened the deal by promising prime advertising position on the new Flatiron Flyer buses running between downtown Denver and Boulder.
The naming deal is part of a broader, $3 million-a-year university marketing initiative that began in September and includes television air time and print and digital advertising.
In its first year, the train line naming agreement will cost the CU system about $905,000, with a 5 percent increase each of the next four years. Of that, $557,000 is coming from Benson’s special initiative fund.
CU’s Boulder campus is contributing $183,000, with $83,000 coming from the downtown Denver campus and $83,000 from the Anschutz Medical Campus.
“It gets the word out,” Benson said. “We want everybody in the world to know about us.”
After the five-year agreement expires, the university has a renewal option.
“We are going to asses its effectiveness just as we will assess the effectiveness of the whole campaign,” said CU spokesman Ken McConnellogue.
The train will travel 23 miles between Union Station and the airport, with each trip expected to take about 37 minutes. A fare for whole span is $9.
Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or @JesseAPaul
Sarah Kuta of The Daily Camera contributed to this report.
