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Thanks to some form of revenue sharing likely coming soon, the increased cost of maintaining a roster in the NIL era, and just regular ol’ concerns like inflation and labor costs…every athletic department is stressed about earning more revenue. It doesn’t matter if you’re Ohio State or Ohio Wesleyan. Everybody wants to earn more money.

That drive to maximize revenue from more traditional pathways, like sponsorship deals, ticket sales and multimedia rights, is already changing how schools organize their athletic departments. Staff directories may begin to look even more like they do in professional sports…with CTOs, CMOs, GMs, etc.

But conventional pathways of earning more revenue aren’t the only possible pathways. I want Extra Points to be in the solutions business, not just the writing about people complaining about stuff business, and I’ve spent a lot of the last few months talking to ADs, collective staffers, entrepreneurs and others about creative ways they’re approaching revenue challenges.

We’ll continue to write about those strategies. But I also have a few of my own. ADs, feel free to steal any of these ideas. Just remember to pay the nine bucks for a subscription when it’s time to gold plate the locker rooms again.

Newsletters aren’t just for sportswriters who got laid off. They’re potential revenue streams for collectives, individuals programs, and athletic departments

Most athletic departments have some sort of big ol’ mailing list somewhere…from folks who bought tickets, entered a raffle, or otherwise gave their information to the department. Some collectives are starting to do the same.

You could just use that mailing list to occasionally blast out ticket sale opportunities or major events…but that would be a waste. Better to use that list as a catalyst to build a newsletter, or an opportunity to have a regular, continuing conversation with your most loyal and engaged fans.

There are typically two ways to make money in newsletters. You can monetize an audience via selling sponsorships, ads, or other owned products (like say, basketball tickets), or you can monetize via paid subscriptions and paywalls.

A few collectives have tried to use athlete-driven content to drive new donor subscriptions, but by and large, I’m told this hasn’t been very effective. Creating content that people will pay for is a unique skill, one completely independent of how good somebody is at football or basketball. A few schools have done this, but the most successful content has been original video, not text.

But there is another way to make the newsletter model work for schools and collectives. Which I’ll explain, right after this paywall break.

See what I did there?

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