Utah has ended its partnership with multimedia rights partner JMI, athletic director Mark Harlan announced Friday morning.
Since the 2024-25 athletic season, JMI has managed Utah’s multimedia rights, including licensing its games for radio broadcast and managing its corporate sponsorships.
“JMI Sports was a true partner to this department from day one,” said Harlan in a statement.
“They took on our multimedia rights portfolio and grew it with new partners and upsells, record revenue growth and marquee asset sales. That kind of work does not happen without a real commitment to this program, and we are thankful for all their work. I also want to thank (JMI CEO) Erik Judson and his team for their collaboration and care of the Utah brand.”
Crimson Brand Partners, the athletic department’s new for-profit company that started as part of its private-equity deal with Otro Capital, will now manage Utah’s multimedia rights.
When Crimson Brand Partners was announced, it was expected that it would take over managing Utah’s multimedia rights and the department would end its relationship with JMI.
Crimson Brand Partners CEO Matt Webb was previously the vice president of corporate sponsorships for the New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Pelicans and will help lead the charge in securing sponsorships as the new company tries to increase Utah’s revenue.
“Crimson Brand Partners, one of the big pieces of it, and I know I’ve talked about it publicly, but I have to always reinforce it, is it’s no longer just athletic assets. It’s University of Utah assets in a very meticulous, professional way,” Harlan said at Big 12 media day.
“And so now the pitches are different. Now you’re pitching to the big companies, the ones that have real money and want to create a really deep relationship, now get to look around the campus and yes, they get all the athletic assets if they want them, and so that process is underway. We’ve already seen some really interesting conversations of interest because we’ve never been able to offer it that way before, if that makes sense. So this day and age, big deals really come down to partnerships
“I give Ryan (Smith) and his group downtown, they’ve created these deep relationships and that’s what we’re going to create and I think we’re already seeing some early returns.”
