BBOC: East Carolina University Director of Athletics Jon Gilbert
Sign up for the newsletter at JohnWallStreet.com On the latest episode of JohnWallStreet Presents: Big Business on Campus, a college sports podcast powered by Playfly Sports, JohnWallStreet Founder Corey Leff and Playfly Sports Chairman Michael Schreiber sit down with East Carolina University Director of Athletics Jon Gilbert. In this 50-minute conversation, the trio discuss: - Leveraging Local Advantages to Create Outsized Value - Funding Competitive Ambition Through Content - Turning Affinity into Recurring Income Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:13 Building a Culture of Innovation at ECU 2:29 The MrBeast Partnership & Beast Games 4:44 The Viral Cheerleader Story 8:13 Managing Institutional Risk 11:03 Revenue Breakdown of the MrBeast Deal 16:32 Brand Reach, Recruiting & NIL Impact 25:58 The $99 Million Basketball Idea & Replicating the Model 26:53 Major Facilities Projects 31:18 Mixed-Use Real Estate Development 34:19 The Impact Credit Card Concept 39:28 Sports Tourism & the North Rec Complex 41:57 Vision for 2030 & Closing
Video Transcript
Welcome to Big Business on Campus podcast by John Wall Street, empowered by PlayFly Sports.
We got a fun one today.
We got John- Jonathan Gilbert, the head of athletics, the director of athletics for East Carolina University.
So, we're g- we're talking Pirates today, which is exciting.
So, thanks for joining, Corey and I on, today's show.
Well, tha- thanks for having me, and, Michael, thank you for, what your company does for the East Carolina, Pirates.
Y'all are a great partner and, we're, we're, we're very appreciative of PlayFly.
Appreciate that.
Appreciate that.
Yeah, excited to be your partner and always looking for continued ways to innovate.
Maybe we'll find a f- a few new ones today while we're talking here.
We could.
So we're actually talking Pirates and beasts today, Mike.
Yes.
Good and we will get to the beast part in one second.
But, John, why don't we just start with you and your kind of where you're coming from?
You've had stops at Alabama and Tennessee before, East Carolina, where obviously the resource base looks very different.
East Carolina- Right doesn't have the benefit of power for media revenues, the same type of donor depth, which forces you to think a bit differently about revenue generation.
So what have you done to create an internal culture where unconventional revenue ideas are not just, not, not just welcomed, but encouraged?
Well, well, I do think it starts with my background.
You know, I spent 16 years at the University of Alabama, six at the University of Tennessee, two as the athletic director at the University of Southern Mississippi, and then I've been at East Carolina almost eight years.
And I, I think as I look at certainly Alabama and Tennessee are, are more resourced institutions, and we're, we're all looking for alternative revenue streams.
And so we've been very intentional, about, casting a wide net and looking at, you know, what is out there that can help us drive additional revenue.
And, and I think we've been, pretty successful at that.
So good segue.
Let's start with the attention grabber.
ECU has leaned into a very unique local asset, MrBeast's Greenville roots.
Explain the relationship between the school and the world-renowned creator streamer and how it all came to be.
Well, we- we're very fortunate, th- in proximity and location, in that Jimmy Donaldson, also known as MrBeast, his mom was actually He's from Greenville, North Carolina.
His mom was an athletic academic advisor prior to me arriving, at East Carolina.
And, and we've had a history of, renting our athletic facilities, to him to shoot content.
So several years ago, we had the world's largest, dodgeball game in our, basketball arena.
He'll, he'll shoot content at our various, you know, athletic facilities.
And then we were really fortunate, in April and May, they came to us and, they wanted to shoot multiple episodes of Beast Games, which is, on Amazon Prime.
And so, we partner with them.
They, they rented our football stadium for 50 days.
They rented our residence halls.
They, partnered with Aramark, our, sports and entertainment division, to cater the meals.
I think they had 300, 400 people here from all over the country, working in Greenville, North Carolina.
So hotels were full.
Ren- you couldn't get a rental car in town.
And, and so obviously the economic impact of, having a, an event like that.
And so they actually, they filmed, an episode without people in the stands, and then they filmed an episode, with people in the stands that they'll air sometime after the first of the year.
So, again, we, we got, a lot of income, institutionally from that, but Greenville, North Carolina has, you know, benefited from this event and the many events that, that he's done.
We recently just did one, and I would encourage you to go watch it.
It really doesn't take very long.
It's a 25, 30-minute video.
They wanted one of our cheerleaders in uniform, and, and all they would tell us was they're going to be chained to another individual for a period of time, but we want them in uniform.
And, and the great thing about MrBeast is they do a lot of, a lot of, crazy things that will grab your attention, but it's all family, oriented.
So you could watch it, your children could watch it.
And so when they asked us about could this cheerleader be in uniform, I was like, "A- absolutely."
A- and so, the, the cheerleader, goes to this, you know, viewing, or they meet with the producer.
The producer likes them.
She's a part, of the The video, and she's chained to an individual, and at, at the end of the video, this person is chained to multiple people, and the prize is $250,000.
And so sh- this, the girl, that was chained to our cheerleader, she had to pick which of the individuals that she was chained to, to trust with splitting the prize money with her.
So she could have picked a person that said, "Hey, I'm not splitting it with you.
I'm keeping all the money."
She picked the cheerleader, and the cheerleader split the money evenly.
And so the cheerleader won $125,000.
And y- you know, c- imagine either of you, if you're in college and you play this game that lasts a couple days and you win 125 grand, you know, you think you've won, you know, more money than you really know what to spend.
And I looked on it this morning before I hopped on the call, it already has 67 million views.
And, and so the value of the ECU brand being on that video, and I would also say the, the cheerleader being a very trustworthy person, when you're done watching the video, it is a outstanding reflection on East Carolina University.
And so doing things like that are, are, really beneficial for us.
There's also a video you can go watch where, MrBeast races Usain Bolt on our track, and, again, it's got, like, 70 million views.
D- just really things that, you know, we get the rental income from that, but we're also getting, visibility that, quite frankly, we couldn't afford to pay for.
Hey, John, th- this is probably the first time on the podcast we heard, anybody tell us about two people chained together, by the way.
Just so we have a, we have a first, a big business on the campus first- Yeah here, which is exciting for us.
But, I guess the, the question is how do you get the, the, the comfort, whether it's the university or even your own department, that things are gonna be handled the right way, right?
It's amazing 'cause there's so much conservatism in the college ecosystem.
To be able to take that type of trust, that type of risk, where it does create this amazing opportunity for the university, it really does grow the brand, it does drive new innovations, right?
You're breaking the mold here, right?
And you are taking some risks that are really working out nicely, but it's not the traditional way that college athletics or college or, you know, higher education thinks.
So it's a big innovation here.
How do you get everybody comfortable, including yourself?
Yeah, that, that is a great question, and, and it is one that is real in that we talk about that all the time.
There, there was The, the only thing that we've told them no on, they, they wanted to drop a bunch of money, on the field during one of our athletic events, and I was like, "There, the I'm not doing that."
Short, short of that, we're open.
But, but you, you bring up a great point.
Institutions of higher learning are traditionally very conservative, and so I, I think part of it is, seeing and understanding the types of videos that MrBeast put out.
We're, we're talking about a very, family-friendly, entity.
And so, can things go crazy and something happen?
Absolutely.
But I, I think we're at a point in time where, in order to be innovative and in order to get some of these things, you have to take risk.
And, if you don't take those risks, you, you might as well sit on the sidelines.
And so w- we have been very intentional, ab- about that in willing to take risk.
And, and really, I think athletic departments are slowly pulling the campus side along because they traditionally are not as risk-takers as athletic departments are.
And, and so it, it's been an evolution, but we've landed in a really good place.
But, but what you mentioned is real.
Y- you know, institutions, are, are typically risk-averse.
John, help us contextualize the amount of revenue that a 50-day residency like that, where they take over the stadium and dorms and all that kind of generates for the school.
And then beyond the rental fee, the agreement had a bunch of other interesting components.
There was a field replacement.
You had some merchandise economics.
Can you just shed a bit of light on how the deal was structured with MrBeast, and which parts, if any, you would do differently?
Yeah.
It, it was, it was great, and, w- we were dealing with, y- you know, we're dealing with a large entity.
And so, to, to Michael's point on getting everyone comfortable, we had to constantly reiterate, like we're, we're dealing with a, the highest level of production here.
This isn't, you know, some person, that just showed up and said, "Hey, I wanna, I wanna shoot this big event here."
Like these are professionals, seasoned veterans that are, that are shooting like, you know, Survivor and y-you know, different, different, you know, widely watched entities.
You know, athletically, institutionally, y-you know, we were well north of a million dollars.
W-we also got a lot of residual income off of, you know, when we, Aramark Sports and Entertainment is our official vendor, concessions vendor, so when they, were feeding the crew, you know, we were getting a split of that athletically.
So we were well north of a million dollars, in revenue for the, hosting the event.
We also completely had our field redone.
So, when they were done, you know, they were driving heavy equipment, on the field.
So w- you know, we got the field replaced.
They also, during the segment where, we brought, they brought in, you know, an audience to actually watch it and film it, they bought out our concessions that day where, Aramark Sports and Entertainment was giving out free food.
So a, a, a lot of residual income, that, that came to us, from the event.
And I, I think the other thing, because we've been in the W-we held concerts at ECU, you know, 10 years ago, w-way before I arrived.
And after hosting this event, we've talked to some really big acts about coming into our football stadium for concerts and other ancillary events, potentially a big rodeo and a concert.
And, and I think really what, what's helped the promoters is being able to show them and talk about hosting at this MrBeast entity that's gonna be, filmed on Amazon Prime.
Y-you know, there's a comfort level that we can host and support, an event of that scale.
When you think about those types of things, not only activating on how do you get an event like that, but could you tell our listeners how you think about then the next step?
Like, you're talking about concerts, and are you, are you hiring a person, like an events leader?
Are you partnering it with someone?
How do you s- then look to activate that and get in touch with all those acts?
Like, what's the how part of how you take that and extend that and program further?
Is that, you know, an innovation that you bring to the table, you're making the calls?
Or how, how does that work, just for, for all the people that are listening to understand how to sort of emulate all the innovations that you're, you're leading?
We're, we're really fortunate at ECU.
We have a very, lean staff, and, we all know that revenue generation, you know, has to be at the forefront, for, you know, all of us.
And, and so we typically are reaching out to people that, that we know.
When I worked at Tennessee, we hosted a lot of concerts there.
And so we all-- I've had relationships.
I've got other staff members that have relationships where we're in touch with the promoters.
But, but back to risk, y-you know, when you, when you talk about bringing in a concert and a big act, and everybody goes, "Oh my gosh, we want this big artist to come in," well, you have to guarantee money on the front end to do that.
Well, typically, institutions work the other way.
"Hey, we want you to come in and give us a guarantee, and we'll let you have the upside."
And so it has been a mindset shift of, let's partner with these people, and groups on concerts and other entities where y-you know, we're gonna share in the risk-reward, where everybody gets to eat from the trough, so to speak.
John, I wanted to just hit on a point you made earlier about, the overwhelming amount of views those MrBeast videos have gotten.
How do you measure the value of reaching younger audiences and prospective students and fans who may have no prior connection or even awareness of your school?
I-is that in tours and applications?
Well, it, it is very intentional, in, in this regard.
Dur-during the MrBeast, setup, we also had graduation, and so we had to navigate.
They built the world's largest LED board, on our football field.
And so when people came in, they, they saw the LED video board, and, when we opened it up for, free ticketing for this one night that they were going to film, we had people that, We ran all the ticketing through our in-house ticket office.
Pa- w-we partnered with Paciol and, is our ticket provider.
And so we had people claim tickets all over the world, you know, India and, Great Britain and y-you know, just Turkey, d-different places that wanted to come in and, "Oh my gosh, I can come to Greenville and see MrBeast do all this for free."
And so it is hard to quantify, that what, what does that really mean?
A-and I go back to the cheerleader, sixty-seven million views so far.
The video's probably been out two weeks, maybe three.
There's no way that anything we put out ECU athletically is getting 67 million views in three weeks.
And, and so I do think it is something that we have to better, quantify athletically and institutionally to help push that content out from a visibility standpoint.
And so that's why I thought it was really important for us to partner, with MrBeast, because I do think we will get some brand recognition, and some residuals y- you know, based on the relationship and partnership, getting our brand out there knowing it may just be one student that goes, "Man, I wanna go take a campus visit to East Carolina, because I saw this video and I know MrBeast lives there.
It, it might be a cool place, to go to school."
And, and so, w- we look at it in that manner.
Well, so that's what I'm kind of getting at.
Do you guys have a like some sort of, you know, strategy to continue to work with MrBeast to take that awareness and convert it into applications or enrollment or whatever?
Yeah.
We, we are continuing to work with him.
There, there'll be some videos in the fall, and, and I don't want to give out any spoilers, but we do have more of our student athletes that will be involved in some of his videos in the f- in the future.
It, it is hard for us to quantify though, like, the, the applications.
I, I kind of look at it as the, the athletic effect of, you know, we're gonna open the football season against Alabama, and it's going to be on ABC.
It's gonna be the first game that day, an ABC national game.
It's hard for us to quantify, did that increase applications or is it part of the larger scheme of we're doing all these things to increase our visibility j- just by osmosis, we're going to get, some res- residual benefit, from that.
What about athlete recruitment?
Do you use the, the idea that, hey, if you come and play with us, you'll get to interact with our, you know, famous local, you know, celebrity?
Yeah.
Absolutely, we do.
So on like recruiting visits, we also talk about, y- you know, MrBeast has paid our student athletes directly from an NIL perspective, like when we did the dodgeball game.
We've also, done some races where he's done some unique races where our student athletes are some of the people that are actually running, so they've benefited directly from, you know, NIL initiatives of, of being a part of that.
So absolutely, you know, we're taking all those things to promote our brand, promote it from a recruiting, perspective and also from a retention.
You know, if they need, they'll call and, again, don't wanna give the plot away.
They needed some student athletes a couple weeks ago to help them, do some things, and we, you know, got probably 10 to 12 of our student athletes over to a location to shoot.
They're all gonna benefit from it from a NIL perspective, and then ECU benefits from it because they're wearing our, jersey or whatever, to, to recognize.
So, w- we're all encompassing in that regard.
Hey, John, one idea- So imagine- Sorry, just to Or one idea to follow up on that would be could, could there be an idea where you almost create a creator studio for your athletes because that drives so much of the NIL value is their social spheres, and actually brand it with MrBeast, right?
It's almost like his donation to you guys, not money, but the co-branded MrBeast, you know, creator studio.
And just, it really just takes, you know, a room that you have probably already somewhere on campus and outfits it with some, some, interesting elements that allows kids to make content and allows kids to sort of use, the student athletes use the connectivity to MrBeast if he's willing, even though he doesn't have to be there, right?
That would be That could be a cool connection, and thought and innovation to sort of continue to expand this great relationship.
Yeah.
A- absolutely.
And, and we, we have talked to them about, a lot of different ideas and collaborating.
I don't know if you all saw, it's been, you know, back in the spring where MrBeast actually, you know, tweeted out, "If I gave ECU football $99 million, would they Could we- they win a national championship?"
And everybody across the country was talking about it.
And y- you know, obviously they're in the business of making money.
So when he puts out a video, he wants to get so many views or so many hits where he's getting paid.
And, and so I was explaining to a lot of our local media because they were like, "Oh my gosh, this is the greatest thing ever.
You know, we could do all these things."
And I said, "Now, if he really gave us $99 million, he's going to want a 20% return on that money.
Like, he's not giving it for free, and so how does he monetize that?"
And so we actually talked to them about basketball ECU's basketball history, is not at the level that our football, history is.
And, and so -- And it's a much smaller sport with, you know, not as many players.
So if you did a bigger investment on NIL and revenue sharing in men's basketball, and you actually videotaped it as a series, it actually makes a lot more sense.
And so we've actually talked to them about that.
From a timing standpoint, it was a little too soon.
I think that one's still up in the air.
That, that would be a really good possibility for us because y-you know, you go get a few players in basketball, and in the league that we're playing in, it really wouldn't take that much money, relatively speaking, to get an NCAA tournament team.
And he could take that and put it on, you know, Amazon Prime or Netflix or one of those things.
That one, to me, makes a lot more sense than, you know, the football piece because the football numbers at the large institutions, the numbers for rosters has just gotten really crazy.
I absolutely love that.
Would be totally compelled to watch that series, and have to believe that ECU could get to the '27, '28 Final Four, with, you know, eight figures of, of NIL money donated by MrBeast.
One question, one last question on MrBeast, and we'll, let's, we'll kind of move the conversation along.
How much of this is replicatable at other schools?
Meaning, does the authentic connection to MrBeast, matter, or could other schools take this strategy, identify a popular creator, and, and execute, you know, to, with the similar outcomes?
You know, I, I think that at, at the beginning of our, you know, broadcast, I mentioned we benefit from proximity.
L- Like, we're really fortunate, you know, Jimmy grew up here.
And, and so I think other schools can do it, but it, it has to be a creator or influencer that has a tie to the institution.
And, and so I think that's probably the biggest piece.
Can it be done elsewhere?
Absolutely.
You just need a creator that is, h-holds an institution near and dear to their heart.
Let's move the subject along.
You have a couple big facilities projects coming up.
You have a $28 million football building coming, a $10 million baseball expansion.
There's a new golf clubhouse project underway.
And all of this is happening while the department is facing new expenses tied to revenue sharing, and just the broader cost of competing.
How do you prioritize capital projects in this environment?
Yeah, that's a really good question.
Y-you know, my thought process- Uh- can you hear me okay?
Yeah, we got you now.
Okay, good.
Y-you know, your, my thought process early on was, y-you know, we've got to build some of these buildings because I felt like, particularly with our football program, we were one of the few Division I-A football schools that didn't have an indoor building.
And w-we're unique.
We're not, the SEC, you know, but we're very SEC-like with our fan base.
Extremely passionate.
You know, we sell the most tickets, in, in our league football-wise.
We just have a very passionate fan base.
And so, we're fortunate the, the indoor football building, $28 million, fully funded by our donors.
You know, it should be completed sometime in October of this year.
$10 million baseball extan- expansion.
Baseball is very important at ECU.
We do very well there, nationally.
And then really, we have a golfer that's playing on the LIV tour, Harold Varner III, played at, both, the PGA and now LIV.
He and another donor, were very instrumental in our golf facility.
And so when you think about the amount of construction that's going on on our campus right now, you know, let's call it 28, another 10 of baseball, we're at 38, another, three in golf.
We've got, just in ECU Athletics alone, we've got low $40 million, right now construction in Greenville, and it's all paid for.
R-really, impressive by our fan base.
And I go back to the economic impact that this is going to drive.
I do feel like these facilities are kinda the last piece for us from a infrastructure standpoint.
Y-you know, then we'll f- we'll, all our focus will be, you know, completely on revenue sharing and, and maybe renovating a building here or there.
The indoor building is gonna have, a, a revenue component to it.
We'll be able to rent it and have, multiple events in there.
We actually had, last week, we brought in a promoter, that we're working on potentially a very big country music artist in Greenville, if it works out.
And her first question was, "Hey, can we put this type of artist in this indoor building when it's complete?"
And my response was, "Absolutely, we can."
the baseball expansion, we really don't have much premium space at baseball, so there'll be a premium component that will drive additional revenue.
Same thing there.
She said, "Your baseball venue would be great for a, you know, 3 to 5,000-seat concert.
Would you do a, a concert on your baseball field?"
"Absolutely, we will."
And so, we're, we're looking at, multiple non-traditional revenue events within these, expansions that we're doing.
John, you said the, this is kind of the end of the development, but when you and I talked offline, you had mentioned, you'd actually brought Deloitte and Populous in to explore a mixed-use project or a concept that you'd put together.
Greenville's certainly not Atlanta, home of The Battery.
How does the mixed-use model need to be adapted for a smaller town?
And what specifically are you thinking about building?
Well, w- it, it's been a great educational experience for me.
We have brought Deloitte and Populous in, and we have a piece of land that is, adjacent to our footprint right across one of our main entrances by our baseball and track.
And, you know, when we talked to them about coming in and looking at a mixed-use, venue, I immediately Y- you know, as ADs, we, we know a lot about a little sometimes, and I kept looking at this blank land like, "What can we do with this blank land?"
And so, after we gave them a tour of our facilities, I was focused on this blank piece of land, and man, Populous and Deloitte were like, "Hey, what about these other areas over here?"
You know, and they started asking a bunch of questions, and it led us down a complete different path.
And, and so they, they basically said, "What, what are your non-negotiables?"
And, and I was like, "Well, I'm, I'm not moving our baseball stadium.
Like, we're doing a 10 million expansion.
I'm not moving that.
But short of not moving the baseball field, what, you know, what are you talking about?"
And, and so they said, "Well, let, let's talk about where the most people are throughout the year," and they start looking at different areas where you could put a hotel here.
"What, what if we move this facility to a different location and it opened up, you know, a lot more space where you could do retail and residential?"
It, it, and so it just, you know, opened my eyes to, you know, stop looking at this blank piece of land that you have.
You know, let Bring in professionals and, and let them explore, the t- the entire entity because one of the benefits that we do have at East Carolina, and, and I'd actually say this is better than what we had during my time at Alabama and Tennessee, we have one athletic footprint with a bunch of parking around it.
And so we have the ability, to navigate some space without some historic academic building being right in the middle of our footprint.
It's all athletics.
And so I do think it's going to create a bigger and better canvas, for Deloitte and Populous to explore.
Mixed-use real estate is something that almost every school is at least thinking about.
You are thinking about something that absolutely no one else is thinking about, which is an impact credit card concept, that would support revenue sharing.
Explain the basic concept.
I, I am really excited about this.
Y- you know, mo- most people are, when they think about a credit card and tied to an institution, they're thinking about y- you know, a credit card with the logo of their school, and, you know, you're paying a licensee and royalty fee to use that.
And, and really, we've, partnered with, the Impact card, and it, it is You know, without going down a long rabbit hole on credit cards and the back end of credit cards, the more you can fund on the back end of a credit card of that 2 to 3%, y- you know, the more money that you can receive individually.
And if you look at, athletic departments and what, what is the next frontier that's out there that we could all benefit from, I think it is the spending power of our fan base.
How can we institutionally and athletically benefit from, the spending power of our fan base?
And so, we are close to, launching this credit card in the fall where it would have, you know, obviously our logo, on there and, and, you know, we would pay royalty for that logo.
But we also would create an affinity, portion of that where you're, you know, much like, you know, Marriott Rewards or Delta Rewards, you're gonna get benefit from ECU Athletics where it could be an experience on the very high end, or it could be, you know, very entry-level.
You know, once you reach a certain threshold, you're gonna get a hat, or you're, you're gonna get access, to some student athletes or coaches, y- you know, through this, affinity piece.
I do think it is the next frontier.
Really excited about it, and, I think we will be one of, if not the first institution, to launch this.
A- and I think the investment part on the back end of this, is really important because oth- other schools are doing affinity cards.
I don't think any schools are doing the reward piece and, partnering with a group that is investing on the infrastructure of the credit card, where both the investors and the school, are going to benefit in a higher percentage of that 2 to 3% credit card fee.
How meaningful do you envision the economics, of the transaction fee becoming for ECU?
Well, I, I think on the low, the low, the very low end, I, I think it can, you know, generate a, a million dollars a year, in, in residual income.
Now, I, I think the proof is going to be in the pudding.
The, the better our launch of the card is, and the more people that sign up, the more people that, you know, we will benefit from.
And our hope is that, local You know, there may be some local companies that come in and go, "We have a very popular sports bar here called Sup Dogs."
they're, they're very good sponsors of ours.
And, you know, if they partner and go, "Hey, we, we wanna, we wanna, participate in this.
We're gonna offer things from Sup Dogs," I, I think the, the, the revenue p- potential, is astronomical.
Is this a model that other schools might be able to, license or replicate from you guys?
I, I think it is.
I, I think, again, the investment piece is going to be really important because, and, and I can't stress that enough, this Impact Card that we're partnering with, they're investing on the back end of the credit card and doing a lot of the nuts and bolts themselves.
It's much different than just going and partnering with Visa, MasterCard, and Amex and slapping a logo on it.
So the back end is a really important piece to grab a part of this 2 to 3% credit card fee.
Yeah.
Just shifting off the, the credit card for a minute, unless you had another question there, Corey.
I was gonna talk to, sports tourism a little bit.
And moving into that category, the, the, the North Recreational Complex that you guys have and your partnership with Greenville, love to hear about that.
We're seeing more and more sort of, youth sports and sports tourism connections between colleges, and that seems like a new innovation, that's out there.
I'd love to hear what you guys are doing and, and how others can, can learn from, from your, your innovation there, John.
Yeah, that's a great question.
We're, we're actually in the process of that now.
We had a complex, it was our, North Rec, intramural area, which is probably about, let's say it's probably four to five miles off campus, where the university went out there and, you know, built a bunch of rec fields, a- and it's pretty big space.
And they have, the university has leased that back to, the city.
The city in turn is going out there and going to redo the land, and build, a, a complex where we're going to get, as a city, travel baseball tournaments, travel softball, volleyball tournaments, all those types of things that are going to create a lot of incremental revenue, for the city, tourism dollars.
They're gonna put a hotel out there where, y- you know, you're gonna m- gonna be able to y- you know, go out there from a travel ball standpoint, stay the night ri- right next to the fields.
And this North Rec area is in a different part of town that we're actually going to, the city is going to be able to develop.
So, it's going to create additional infrastructure out there, hotel, restaurants, you know, convenience stores.
It, it's just gonna be a complete new entity out there.
The, the city has been very strategic in that manner.
John, we're running up against time, so I just wanna ask one last question.
Looking five years out, 2030, what is success for ECU Athletics, on the business side?
Put, put wins and losses on the side for a minute.
We, we understand a Final Four with Jimmy's support is, is, is the goal there.
Y- you know, I think, success for all of us, if, if you look at, f- for ECU in particular, but, but just about every school The, the most, lucrative entity that we own is our football team.
And what are we doing in 2030 to make sure that we are funding that football program at the highest level for it to remain competitive?
I would argue that in, in Greenville, North Carolina, we, we ought to put a penny tax or something like that on food and hotels and rental cars to specifically fund revenue sharing for that football program.
Because I would argue everyone in this town is benefiting from a successful football program.
Hotels, gas stations, restaurants, the T-shirt vendors, everyone is eating from the trough.
And in 2030, if there were a some sort of tax in, on, on a smaller scale in eastern North Carolina to benefit that football program, I, I think this entire region could grow exponentially because we would have separated ourselves from an investment standpoint in a unique fashion that no one else is doing.
And, there is power in eastern North Carolina, ar- ar- around the Pirates, and if everybody collectively came together, I think we could position ourselves, to, to be a, a leader in that regard.
I love it.
Mike, you want to take us home?
Yeah.
So, yeah, I think the, the coolest thing about what we learned today here, John, is that you are thinking different, and you've got innovations all around.
Really exciting about, all of the, the creator economy work with MrBeast and utilizing that for the benefit, not of just revenue, but for the whole growth of the ECU brand from, from driving applications to driving interest in the sport, the sports and athletics of the school.
So just excited to hear that all the way down the line to talking about facilities and mixed use, to thinking about youth sports, to using credit cards to drive rev share.
So, really a lot of cool stuff happening at E- ECU, and we didn't even get to talk about Playfly that much, so it's okay.
But I'll, I'll take it.
You're, you're just driving so much innovation, in that, in that market.
It's great for our audience to hear.
So I just want to say thank you again, for, for having you on the show and, and really educating our audience on all these amazing things.
That's what we try to do here is bring those to light, all those innovations.
So thanks again, John, and, appreciate it.
This is the Big Business on Campus podcast by John Wall Street, powered by Playfly Sports.
Thanks again, John, for, for being on with Corey and I here.
Thanks for having me.
Go Pirates.
