Weeks before the opening kickoff of his first football season at Colorado, athletic director Fernando Lovo reported the Buffaloes’ biggest win of the year.
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It remains to be seen if Deion Sanders can get the CU football program back into the Big 12 Conference race after a disastrous 3-9 season in 2025. And while Sanders, as usual, garnered the biggest spotlight during CU’s fall sports media day Friday, it was Lovo who shared the most encouraging news for the Buffaloes’ entire athletic department.
Lovo and CU announced the Buff Club generated a record $37.7 million in donations and commitments for the 2025-26 fundraising year. In an era when fielding a competitive roster in any sport — particularly in the big-money sports of football and men’s basketball — requires hefty financial backing, Lovo’s announcement marked a step in the right direction for an athletic department that has trailed its Big 12 peers in the money race.
This week, CU also announced a new partnership from AT&T, which becomes the official wireless/wireline sponsor of Buffs athletics.
“Obviously a big priority for us is to drive new revenue to our department,” Lovo said. “That’s critically important in this new age of college athletics. And I think that’s one of our top priorities. Our sponsorship, vertical, naming rights, all of those things is a really important piece for us to be able to grow our revenues, and we’ll have some exciting announcements here coming soon.”
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The $37.7 million in donations eclipsed the Buff Club’s previous record of $35.4 million set just last year. And therein lies the ongoing challenge for Lovo and CU’s athletic department. The money pool needed to attract players and enhance the fan experience has to be refilled continuously, meaning if the Buff Club doesn’t top this year’s record-setting mark with another new high next year, then the Buffs will be moving backwards.
“It’s so critical to our success. Buff Nation stepping up to support us in this manner is something that’s so needed in this day in age,” Lovo said. “Fan feedback is really important. We’re going to be really intentional on soliciting feedback from our fans — during the event, after the event — with surveys. We’re here to serve them. We’re just looking to create excitement. And doing things different. Because at the end of the day if (the fans) are excited, they’re engaged, I really do think it has a tangible impact on us winning and losing.”
Among the most obvious and lucrative channels of revenue generation that remains untouched by CU athletics are sponsorship patches on football jerseys, as well as the naming rights for Folsom Field and the CU Events Center. Lovo said he and his team remain focused on finding “the right partnership” in both ventures, and CU’s athletic director hinted that with college football’s bright lights soon to be shining on Sanders and his team, news on both fronts could be finalized soon.
“I feel like we’re getting closer each and every day,” Lovo said. “I do think the momentum of us kicking off here in 30 days at Folsom, and the expectations of a really great season, I think this fall is critical for us on both fronts. I’m really bullish on what will look like this fall, and our partners are as well and we’re having conversations. We’re going to be diligent about making sure it’s the right partner at the right time. But we’re certainly operating with urgency to get those done.”
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