How Deion Sanders Turned Colorado Football Into a Celebrity Attraction – The Hollywood Reporter

Backstage at University of Colorado football games looks like Grammy and Oscar week in Los Angeles since Deion Sanders, a.k.a. “Head Coach” took over as head football coach this season. Stars such as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross and Kawhi Leonard showed up to watch the Buffaloes lead the pack, and the star power is set to continue as the team takes on the UCLA to the championship. already sold out Saturday at Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena.

“I can assure you that as a sportscaster and reporter for years, I have never had a reason to talk about University of Colorado football,” said Stephen A. Smith, host of the ESPN show . First take. “I never thought about it until he got there. I had never been to Boulder, Colorado in my life. I’ve been there twice already. When you look at it this way, we simply can’t say enough about the work Sanders has done and the care he brings to the football program.

The “Coach Prime” effect seen in Colorado builds on the momentum that began when Sanders, the only athlete to appear in both the World Series and the Super Bowl, became head coach of the Tigers. Jackson State University on September 21, 2020. Behind-the-scenes videos of team practices and other moments posted on the YouTube channel Affluent media, run by Sanders’ eldest son, Deion Sanders, Jr., began gaining traction with views in the tens of thousands a year ago. Today, similar footage showing the current Buffaloes football team has hundreds of thousands of viewers.

“I would love to take credit for glorifying it, but honestly, it’s so authentic that it’s taken on a life of its own,” says Sanders partner and manager Constance Schwartz-Morini, CEO and partner of the talent management company SMAC Entertainment. “What I mean by that is that we haven’t contacted High noon Or Match day Or 60 minutes or any of these people. This was all really incoming, and it was the same with the guests coming in.

These guests included rappers like Offset, DaBaby, Master P and Waka Flocka Flame and professional athletes such as Lou Young, DeSean Jackson and the entire Philadelphia 76ers basketball team.

“What’s interesting is that they were mostly all his friends before,” Schwartz-Morini says. “We got calls from agents and reps saying, ‘Hey, can so-and-so come in and get the same treatment as Offset or DaBaby?’ And I said, “Do they have a relationship with him like Offset or DaBaby?” Those relationships predated what was happening here in Colorado.

“When Dany Garcia and The Rock (acquired) the XFL (in 2020), they came to Jackson State and did their job there for the XFL. So that’s what I mean by relationships. Whether it’s Offset, DaBaby, Rick Ross or Little Wayne, who literally looks like his little brother, these are his true friends.

The presence of additional stars such as Anthony Anderson, Gunna, Key Glock and Wu Tang Clan paid off in tangible ways for the University of Colorado, which saw a 42% increase in out-of-state applications as a freshman year. CU’s football Instagram account, which had just under 63,000 followers the day Coach Prime was hired, now has more than 1 million followers and merchandise sales are up 74% from 2022 and 117% compared to 2021. After its season-opening victory against TCU, Colorado. sold for $430,000 in football tickets for a single match on Saturday September 2 only and officially sold all season for the first time in history on September 19. The Buffaloes also passed Ohio State as most expensive college football ticket with an average price of $517. VIPs receive a special identifier in the form of Prime Pass, golden whistles they wear around their necks that mimic the one Sanders uses in practice.

“He invented them,” says Schwartz-Morini. “I was wondering, ‘Are we really putting these huge whistles on our VIPs’ necks?’ But everyone is so excited to rock them. This is actually great branding.

The experience of attending a game is just as exciting, Smith says. “I loved it, personally. I was sitting in his dressing room with Shannon Sharpe, Omari Hardwick, Cam’ron. People came from everywhere just to check on him. Chauncey Billups, the head coach of the Portland Trailblazers, was in attendance, former Hall of Fame athletes and players, like Michael Irvin, Terrell Owens, the list goes on. Everyone was asking for his support because we all want him to win. We understand how important it is for him to succeed.

As Smith points out, the odds were stacked against Sanders from day one, when he inherited a team with a 1-11 record. He signed 86 new players, including his sons Shilo and Shedeur Sanders, choosing to keep only 10 of the team’s scholarship players. Those decisions are paying off both on the field — the Buffaloes are 4-3 this season — and off: The team posted its best ERA ever with a 2.932 ERA last spring.

As sponsorship opportunities, image and likeness deals and media attention continue to pour in for Coach Prime and the Buffaloes, Schwartz-Morini focuses on just one thing when asked what the The program’s future holds for her: “We have to get two more wins and advance to a bowl game,” she said.

Regardless of the outcome of Saturday’s game, Sanders’ impact at Colorado is already cemented in college football and pop culture history. “I’ve never been a part of something this big and I’ve been to 30 Super Bowls,” Schwartz-Morini says. “It’s bigger than sport. It is a cultural movement.