Episode 84 | A Conversation with Michael Lipitz on the Changing Business of College Athletics

In Episode 84 of “Market News with Rodney Lake,” Professor Lake, Director of the GW Investment Institute, speaks with Michael Lipitz, Associate Vice President and Director of Athletics at George Washington University, about the evolving business model of college athletics and how strategic investment in sports can advance a university’s broader mission. Lipitz discusses how NIL policies, the transfer portal, and emerging revenue-sharing models are reshaping college athletics into a more investment-driven framework that requires careful resource allocation and measurable outcomes. He outlines his master plan, including a proposed sports performance center to expand use of the Charles E. Smith Center, as well as fundraising efforts, corporate partnerships such as Vanda Pharmaceuticals, and new revenue opportunities. Lipitz also explains GW’s strategy to invest deeply in men’s and women’s basketball within the Atlantic 10 Conference, emphasizing media exposure, ticket sales, alumni engagement, leadership development, and strong academic outcomes for student-athletes as key drivers of national visibility, community building, and long-term growth for George Washington University.

Transcript

Thank you for joining Market News with Rodney Lake. This is a regular program for the GW Investment Institute where we talk about timely market topics. I'm Rodney Lake, the director of the GW Investment Institute. Let's get started. Welcome back to Market News with Rodney Lake. I'm your host, Rodney Lake. Today we have a special guest, athletic director Michael Lipitz.
Michael, welcome to the show. We're super excited to have you on the show and to give you the full title here. You're the associate vice president and director of athletics at the George Washington University. A pleasure to have you on the show. And thank you so much for making time. I know you have a busy schedule. We're going to date the episode here, but, the men's team is headed out, soon here.
And I know you're joining the team, so thank you for supporting all the athletic events here at GW. But we're obviously rooting for a big win here. At this time of year. You know, March is a big time for basketball. So super excited. But thanks for squeezing us in and making time. Very much appreciated. So I'm going to give a couple of things.
And then I'd love for you to introduce yourself also. So a couple of, you know, mentions of your background here. Villanova law grad, University of Maryland. You know, I'm a huge fan of the Terps. I you know, I love GW. I'm from Maryland, though, so I grew up, you know, watching every Terps sport that you can think of.
You were the captain of the tennis team there. And the Gary Epley award winner for the highest GPA. So obviously a great tennis player and great athletics, which, you know, being the ad sort of makes sense of your background fits neatly into that. But I've also worked at a few other places, and maybe you can mention some of those, but this unique blend that you have coming up through athletics and then getting law training, and working at some of these Power Five conferences, really brings this, I think, combination, which is well suited obviously none of us can predict the future.
But certainly as things have changed, we'll talk about, you know, the NIL you know, this business approach or this this combination of skills, including the law piece, I think makes it a unique blend. For this position, maybe in addition to that, what else could you say about your background just for people that maybe don't know you, for the episode?
Yeah. For first, thanks for having me. It's great to be here. Appreciate I'm casual today. As you said, we're about to. We're about to jump on the bus, and, head up to Pittsburgh. The the A-10 men's basketball tournament is in Pittsburgh this year because it's where the league was founded 50, 50 years ago. So it's 50th anniversary of the A-10.
So we're we're coming home. And, fun fact, which is GW is the lone remaining charter member of the A-10. Oh, really? Yep. You know, I didn't know that all the conference realignment right through the years. And so here we are, last one standing. Also the only AAU member institution in the A-10, also with mention a couple points of pride for us, but yeah, great to be here.
Appreciate you having me. And, yeah, it's been you know, this is my 27th year in, in college athletics. And, so as you mentioned, you, started in, in this as a student athlete at Maryland across town. And, that was my connection, you know, to GW. I'm originally from New Jersey, South Jersey, and came to Maryland to play tennis.
But, you know, watched the success that GW was having in the years that I was in College Park. Particularly in basketball. It was the time frame where, you know, Yinka Dare was helping to helping to put GW on the map and basketball. And, coach McEwen was doing his thing on the with the women's basketball program.
And so that that for me was at least, you know, in those days, the reference point, for GW and so my, you know, after law school, went back to Maryland and worked there for a dozen years, moved on. Went to NC state for nine and then out to Chicago, where I was the athletic director at UIC, Illinois, Chicago, and, and now back back here in the DMV.
This is just my second year, in Foggy Bottom. But it's great to be here. And, you know, it's it's just a phenomenal area. We're going to we're going to talk a little bit about kind of the, the selling points for GW and the balance of academics and athletics that we have here. But yeah, you know, my, my, my experience is leading to this point.
It's been good. You know, it's it's been good training, right, all the years. But there's no question that these last 5 to 10 years, but certainly the last five years in college athletics have seen more change than the prior 50. Yeah. And I know we're going to get into a lot of that detail, but, there's there's not a dull moment these days.
In terms of where the enterprise is. And, I think we're I know we're gonna have some good conversation just in terms of the balance between, kind of what college athletics has traditionally been and where we are now in terms of the some of the, you know, the the more professionalization, the business side of, of college sports.
So, yeah, I appreciate you having me. Thank you so much. So a couple of questions here. You mentioned this already, but maybe just a finer point on why come to GW. Why the revs? Why the revolutionaries. Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, you know, aside from this being, you know, my wife is from this area. So all that help from a personal standpoint, it's it's good for our family to be back, but but, you know, in terms of GW and the opportunity here, it starts with a leadership alignment.
You know, and in any organization that that's that's critical. And so when I had the chance to, to get, get with Doctor Granberg and, and understand her vision for how athletics can lead the university forward and play it, play an integral role in that. That's what got me excited. And both from the president to the board of trustees, the belief that athletics can help elevate the entire institution.
Right. That that's really why we're here, right? I mean, there's there's a couple of components that that athletics brings to the table. I mean, we're we're in the business of developing future leaders, right? In terms of our young people, but as an enterprise, the opportunity is to is for to use athletics as a vehicle to brand the university to raise the visibility of the university.
And there's a lot of different ways that we do that, that we'll get into. But, but in order to have the chance to do those things, we have to have leadership alignment. Right. And we do here and that so that that's what got me so excited to come back and to take on this opportunity, because as I mentioned, you know, if I remember what it was in the years where GW in particularly in the sport of basketball, right, and having a national profile, of course, playing this time of year in the postseason.
It's, it's it's advertising, marketing, branding that you just you just can't buy it. And so that's the that's the exciting part is to help GW get back to being having that national profile in basketball. And and you know, that's the business. We're we're going about right. Well we're all excited about that. And again, thanks for being on the show and thanks for taking time to go with the team.
And good luck to to the team in Pittsburgh. Obviously we're all rooting for for the team. All right. So couple of things. Now, you mentioned some of this college athletics has changed more now in the last few years. Really like you said than the last 50. And so with this change, you've basically gone from this amateur model to this nearly free agent model.
When you have the NIL and the transfer portal is very different than it was, years ago. How has this sort of, you know, changed the way that you approach, you know, you know, it's nearly an investment now. Obviously, our show is sponsored by the GW Investment Institute. You know, it's not exactly an investment, but it's very, very close to that because you have to think in terms of ROI, like, as you mentioned, like we're, you know, we're going to have to pay for a certain amount of, you know, sort of talent and they have the ability to go other places and receive that same type of compensation or higher.
And it's a very different model than it was years ago. How do you think about it for you know, this NIL collective and the revenue strategy and the return on investment? And how has that changed, for you specifically since you got the GW? Yeah, it's an really interesting time right now. And it's, you know, we talk about the business of college sports, and there's no question that that's that's accurate in many instances.
It's it's interesting though because we still want more of a quasi business. Right. We still exist in higher education. Right. And and we don't just look at the balance sheet but but obviously the finances matter. And so in this moment where as you said, we we're we're in an ecosystem now with, post house settlement, right in the advent of we went from no money being paid to student athletes to third party money, with NIL being paid to student athletes, to now direct revenue sharing right in a matter of just a few years.
And so, it's, you know, largely this has always been about prioritizing resource allocation. And so, you know, since since I got to Foggy Bottom, I've said, we're going to lead with basketball. Our men's and women's basketball teams are where we're going to make the largest investments. The A-10 is a basketball conference, right. And so in order to compete at the top of the conference, that that that's what's required, right?
Because while while investing in our men's and women's basketball programs, it doesn't it certainly doesn't guarantee success. Correct. To not invest, I think guarantees failure. So so, you know that that's the business we're going about. And we look at all the different revenue generation options from ticket sales to corporate partnerships, to, to donations obviously. And, you know, you mentioned the collective component to this.
We we chose to roll our collective in-house. So we shut down the collective brought it in because now that we can do direct revenue sharing, right, we found that it to be more efficient, a cleaner message and more direct message for donors. It seems you have more control as well. Yeah. Just to donate to the university, you have your tax deduction.
Right. And and now it's all under one umbrella. Makes it a lot more streamlined and easier to manage. So that's where we are today. But but the provision of those resources and the deployment of those resources, right. That that really is core to now competing at the top of the league. Right. And that that really is our focus.
And so, you know, ultimately we're trying to put our head coaches in positions to, to put those resources to work. And then this part's always been the same. It remains true today, which is, you know, the outcomes that are how we're evaluating things. Right. And so, there's no more, you know, our men's and women's basketball coaches don't put any more pressure on themselves today than they did just a few years ago.
I mean, it's, you know, we keep score for a reason. And and you know, that that those really are the outcomes. You know, when we're looking at okay, this is the investment and how are we doing. Yeah, we're of course we're going to measure outcomes. And so yeah that those are those are the key metrics that we're looking at as we as we advance.
Well, and that's a you know, a great segue here. I was going to ask specifically about key metrics when you're talking about that. And obviously, for a team, you know, wins and losses is one of those metrics. But maybe metrics you and you talked about this, are there other metrics that you're tracking that sit outside of those things that obviously there are metrics for the coaches and the teams, but there are metrics for the programs for you.
So at the GW level, obviously you're in charge of it. All of this, you know, what metrics are you thinking about when you think in terms of ROI for the entire university? Yeah, and there's a few things. I mean, just just for athletics in our department. I mean, we're certainly looking at in terms of generating resources, right? We are looking at ticket sales, right, season ticket sales, single game sales, those kinds of things mentioned fundraising and corporate partnerships.
There's a lot of room to run in those spaces, especially in a market like DC. Yeah. You know, one of the things you look at is just the opportunity to, both both for the basketball programs, for the athletics department, obviously, but for the university is, national television appearances. I mean, this year was a good example where just our men's basketball program was on national television 11 times.
Wow. Big step forward from the last few years, but it's but it's in part because of the investment that we've made, the the, you know, and the recognition that we're we're making progress or we're trending in the right direction. So that that gets you more national TV appearances. And that's the branding, right, to elevate the entire university and get the GW brand out.
People to know, like, oh, okay, I'm going to watch this game. And, you know, you find out about GW as I've, you know, these first 18 months or so is I've, I've met a lot of alumni and talk to people the number of times that our alumni will say to me, hey, the first time that I thought about coming to GW was I saw the basketball team playing in March, right?
I've heard that story over and over and over again, and that's going to be true for future generations of students, just like it was for, you know, our past alumni. And, so those are some of the metrics that we look at, that are outside of wins and losses. Right. Because all of that then translates to the, again, the things that athletics can do as a vehicle for the university in terms of building community for our students and delivering campus life, engaging the local and regional community in terms of being, a lot of times the first point of contact for people to to come to the campus and then keeping alumni engaged so that it can have that direct impact, obviously, on philanthropy.
Right. As well as, again, the front end of the funnel for future students of applications, driving enrollment, right? I mean, we see this across the country, whenever there's lots and lots of stories where, you know, I mean, more recently, you look at an Indiana football, right? And and. Yeah, what they were able to do. But there's lots of examples going back over the years where, if you can, if you can put yourself on the national stage, it can really change the fortunes of a of an entire university. Absolutely. No, that's a great example. So, sticking with, you know, the overall business of everything, you've led to major capital projects at NC state, at UIC, you know, think, you know, thinking about GW and the Smith Center.
I know we've engaged. Okay, for this master plan, maybe you could talk about your vision, for this master plan? Yeah, it's interesting because, you know, I think in some ways the idea of, you know, facility enhancement seems a little bit outdated because, you know, we're in an era of revenue sharing, and that's got to be the primary thing.
But at the same time, facilities do still matter, right? That physical manifestation of our commitment, it does matter when you walk into a and when you walk into any building, any student athlete is looking at what's my training environment, what's my day to day going to look and feel like, and do I feel supported and have what I need?
And so this is an area where historically, you know, it's been a long standing desire for GW to have a facility for basketball to practice. That's in part, to benefit and support the basketball our basketball programs. The other component to that is to free up space in the Smith Center right. You know, another one of the, kind of routine conversations I have with alumni is all the concerts and events over the years that, that, that folks would go to as students.
Those are kind of core memories for people about their time here. And, and we want to get back to the Smith Center being not just a place where we play basketball or volleyball or gymnastics, but also where you can go to see a concert, come, come watch a great comedy show, see a family show, bring in folks from the neighborhood.
Right. And and so in order to do that, though, we have to have a place for our teams to go, right? We can't just book the building and then they have to know where to look. Right. So, so the, you know, the desire for, a space for basketball in this case to, to, to practice day to day is also to free up time so that the Smith Center can really be that convening space, and community building space that it's capable of being.
And it's a great footprint, a great building has been a lot of good work done, over the years. And it shows really well. It's a great just a great place to watch any event. And so, so but the vision for the, for that facility is, yes, there's a basketball component, but it's broader than that in terms of support for all 400 athletes, all 20 varsity programs.
Our health and wellness spaces, strength and conditioning, sports medicine, athletic medicine, academic support, those units that are currently in Smith Center are undersized. Yeah. And so we want to create a space that's, you know, brighter, larger, more welcoming where we, all of our student athletes have an opportunity to be supported at a really, really high level. So that's in those plans in terms of the vision for, for a performance center.
And it is the centerpiece of what we've worked on with HOK as one of the leading sports architecture firms in the country for a, you know, an athletics master plan, and we're doing that alongside of the current campus planning effort that's underway, because those things need to feather together. And so, you know, working hand in hand in glove with campus, to figure out, you know, not just in this case, a basketball practice, a facility, a sports performance center for to support all our athletes.
But, you know, we have the Mount Vernon campus, right? Baseball plays at Barcroft and, at Tucker Field in, in Arlington. And so all those facilities, there's, you know, each of the coaches, each of the programs have desires and their alumni have desires to to continue to enhance those facilities. That's all part of the plan as well.
Excellent. Shout out to Abe Tucker. He's have been a guest. Absolutely classy. So, thanks a for the baseball field. So speaking of fundraising, in corporate partnerships, you mentioned a little bit this before, but Vanda Pharmaceuticals, is now a presenting sponsor. Could you talk a little bit about the fundraising overall and the effort you mentioned a little bit?
And obviously this is, a great win to have. Vanda as a premiere sponsor here. Could you just talk through what what's the strategy moving forward with this type of effort? Yeah, it's it's really, leave no stone unturned. It's probably the best way to say it. I mean, we we have lots of great opportunity, both in terms of major gift fundraising, ticket sales, but also, as, you know, as you said, corporate partnerships.
And we're in the right type of market. It's it's a crowded market, right? DC is very much a pro pro sports market, right? There's a lot of competition, but there's also a lot of opportunity in terms of the corporations that are that are here. You mentioned Vanda, really a flagship partner for us, a new a new partner this year.
And but they're headquartered right here on our Foggy Bottom campus. That's great. So, kind of a natural fit, for both of us. And, it's a good example of what's possible. And, you know, we, the NCAA, as you may have read, I mean, just just recently approved Jersey patches for the first time, which, you know, across, sports all over the globe has, has been a mainstay.
But this will be the first time, starting next year, where you'll see sponsors on jerseys of student athletes. And so it presents, you know, new opportunities to go to market to drive additional revenue to put back into those programs. It's a little bit like the NBA. Yeah, absolutely. The WNBA has it. I mean, pro soccer has it. It's pretty much in its common now.
Yeah. It's become commonplace. And so you know NCAA still working through what exactly that's going to look like from sport to sport. The batting helmet, the, you know, volleyball shirt, whatever that ends up looking like. But but that's just another example where a new opportunity comes online, for us to be able to try to monetize, to better support our student athletes moving forward.
And, and, you know, when we think about resource generation the way that that, you know, I tend to talk with our staff and we frame that is, you know, we're not going head to head with Ohio State or Texas, right? I mean, there's different set up, different type of, level of athletics. But for us, it's about competing in the A-10 and having the opportunity to to compete for A-10 championships year in and year out.
And so we're trying to match the level of investment in those resources to that expectation. Right. Because if we're not if we're unable to to put the resources into a program. And for example, if a, if a particular sport is resource at the bottom of the A-10, it's not reasonable to say, well, we expect you to compete for titles.
And so the goal is year over year to generate resources where we put each of our teams, you know, level with their peers or better than their peers. And that's going to give us the chance to then, you know, both have the expectation to and ultimately deliver on, you know, championship level programs across the board for us. Thank you.
So shifting gears a little bit here, talking about academics so obviously that the market has shifted quite a bit. But but obviously being a student remains quite important and especially for my standpoint, and many others do and I'm sure yours. But graduation rates continue to be very high 97% here. Consistently 94+ high GPA 3.4.
You know how how do you continue this excellent tradition, especially in light of the way that the market is changing? Yeah, it's one of the things that's great about GW. Right. And not every university can say this. It doesn't just happen. Right. It starts with recruiting and who you recruit, who our coaches choose to bring into the fold.
Right. That that's the basis. Right. So not only are we seeking talented athletes, we're seeking great students. And they're coming to a really high level academic environment. So it's it's a great selling point for GW for and for our athletics department. And so, yeah, this fall posting the 97% graduation success rate, it's congratulations. Oh it's great. They did all the work.
So it's congratulations. Just set up the environment for success. And you know shout out to our our academic services unit the this you know, our staff that works hand in hand and, hand in hand with our student athletes every day, as well as our faculty and staff to support them all over campus. And but but it's.
Yeah. I mean, I know James so shout out to James. Yeah, absolutely. James does a great job with leading that unit. And so you know, the graduation rate, the 3.4 GPA and half of our 400 student athletes at over a 3.50, wow. Congrats. Dean's list level. And and so it's one it is absolutely a selling point.
And it's part of the culture of GW. Right. In terms of you come here, you expect to compete at a high level in the A-10, but also compete academically. Right. And you know, I think at times, sometimes the national conversation about college athletics, we can lose sight of that is still a reality. Right. The idea that yes, they are they are in the majority of our student athletes are very much still student athletes.
Correct. Sometimes the headline of a, you know, at a power conference, a $10 million quarterback, those kind of conversations, some of this gets lost in the noise. You know, as the commercial says, I mean, the student athletes are not likely to go pro, right? They're going to go pro in something other than sports. Yeah. And that's very much true for our group.
Right. And so part of our commitment and our obligation to them is to make sure that, whether it's the personal development, the, the academic development that's all happening alongside of the athletic development, so that, you know, for the next 40 or 50 years of your life, you're set up for success. And GW, I think is is actually, you know, positioned in a way that, it's a competitive advantage for us.
I mean, the combination of our location with internships and job opportunities for all of our students, it's just a phenomenal set up to, for our students to achieve a really high level and as we see those results.
Excellent. So next up here is, you know, back to the overall business. And again congratulations to all the students. Shout out to James again.
But these success rates I think are important and obviously showcase the fact, as you mentioned, that they truly are student athletes here. And as you mentioned, they're going pro in something else besides very likely their sport. Now, some do, but but the vast majority are going to go pro in accounting or finance or computer science or whatever it happens to be.
Many business majors. Exactly. So and I’m partial to them as well. But rooting for all of our student athletes.
So now on the overall business. So, you know, the university as a board of trustees has an investment committee. You know, when you're thinking about, you know, how we're pitching this to to this internal group. And we talked a little bit about this along the way here.
But, you know, versus a call center making this the front porch for the university, you know, if you had to talk about what are the guiding principles to think about how we position this and how we position the revenue sharing and how we make sure it's an asset allocation, as you mentioned, you know, opportunity for and challenge as well, you know, how do you, you know, guide yourself and how do you guide the team to think through, you know, what's the best way to position this.
So that we're thinking in terms of metrics that we can track and that we can really decide afterwards to say, look, this was a success and here's why. And we have tangible output that we can demonstrate to people, including, for example, the investment committee or the board of trustees. Yeah, because there are there are both financial metrics and non-financial metrics.
Right. And and we've touched on some of them. But I think, you know, just on the, on the business side of it, the economics of sports, I guess, you know, there's as we mentioned before, there's certainly the outcomes, the competitive outcomes. You say, okay, you know, we're investing in these programs and therefore, you know, what are those outcomes?
We're always wins this year. Yeah, of course we're always going to measure that. But but I go back to this this concept of athletics as a as a vehicle for the university. Right. And and so and so it's you know, you have to really drill down and look at the platform that athletics provides. And so I'll give you some specific examples.
The A-10 as a conference right. We're really fortunate to be an A-10 member. Right. And again, charter member, we've got the best television package as a league outside of the power five. Oh, wow. And the Big East. I did not know that. So, you know, we're right now we're ranked seventh nationally out of the 32 basketball conference.
We're we're we're we're really high level basketball conference. But in terms of the television package, what that delivers is all these opportunities to put GW on that national stage. Right. So our staff does, you know, roughly somewhere between 80 and 100, streaming broadcasts on ESPN plus every year. Right? So we're we're producing those and putting those out there.
But then there's this national TV broadcast, right? The A-10 footprint is it's 33% of the national TV market. It's 40 million households. Right. So those 11 broadcasts that I mentioned that men's basketball had this year, those are the households that were that were getting into those are the states in the footprint that we're penetrating. And it's and it's top of the top 30 TV markets in the country.
The A-10 occupies seven, right? So whether it's Chicago or Saint Louis or Philadelphia or here in DC in New York with, you know, where we have Fordham, we that's and really the northeast for us, as we know, we draw a lot of students from the northeast. So so that's an example and a very concrete example of where, investment in athletics translates to eyeballs on GW and marketing and branding.
So that's one really, really concrete example. Thank you. Another one though is in terms of tracking in the metrics. And what we look at is I, I go back to this idea of developing young people and future leaders. So not just that they're doing great in the classroom, but we look at the outcomes in terms of, you know, job placement, how students do when they leave here.
I mean, this I've, I'm very fond of referring to college athletics as a leadership laboratory and arguably, one of the best it's ever been invented. Yeah. And it's a uniquely American experience, right? The rest of the world doesn't combine athletics and academics in the same way. Right. And we have as we know, we have students from all over the globe that come here for that.
You know, that intercollegiate athletics experience, that only the US delivers. And, I'll give you a couple of data points that I think drive this home. There was a Cornell study that was done right before, right before the pandemic that showed that 80% of Fortune 500 executives played college sports. Oh, wow. That number is 94% for C-suite women.
Wow. And so the, you know, the power of sport, the leadership lessons that the in life lessons you learn through sport. Right. They translate it's one of the reasons we just just the other night we had our annual student athlete networking forum where we have alumni and and members of the business community come and meet with student athletes.
They're really highly desirable future employees, of course, because of the skill sets, the discipline, they know how to work hard, you know. Right. And so and so, you know, again, when we talk about outcomes, yes, we're looking at the finances, right? Yes. We're looking at the branding opportunities in the marketing vehicle that athletics is. That's another one that we that we look at and are proud to promote.
Because and I would say this about lots of college athletics programs around the country, but I think GW because of who we are academically, I think we can do this and do do this at a really high level. So it's another one of those metrics that we really pay close attention to. And then the last one I would mention along these lines is we, you know, part of the ROI for athletics, here and at other colleges is just, you know, it's a we're community builders, right?
Right. We're here to build community, both in terms of the student experience while students are on campus and bringing alumni back to campus, you know, past their days and in, in our case, Foggy Bottom. So, so those are the those are those metrics that, you know, again, some financial, some not financial. But when we talk about return on investment of what athletics delivers for the university, it's all those things.
Absolutely. Well, thanks. I think that's really important to mention all those. And those are great stats, to have and have them top of mind. So to wrap here up the episode, but thanks. Before we wrap, thank you so much. AD Lipitz for for being on the show and making time and again, I know you have a super busy schedule, including getting out of here.
So looking ahead here for the next 3 to 5 years, you know, what's your vision for GW athletics? And how should we be thinking about, both supporting you, and being part of it? Yeah. So there's a couple things that we keep top of mind, right? I mean, we start with the academics. We've talked about it a lot, but, you know, we want to maintain where we are academically, right?
I mean, we're setting records in the classroom. We want to continue to do that. We've talked basketball and and returning our basketball programs to the top of the league because of the strength of the league. That equals having a national presence. Right. And again, nothing replicates the impact of playing in March and ideally deep into March.
There's a lot of examples. I mean, we, we look, not too far across the river. Our friends at George Mason that had a run that we're still 20 years later still we're still talk about it. Yeah. And, everybody knows they made it to the Final Four, and it was a great run. And the benefits to the university continued to this day.
The same is true for what Loyola has done. A little more recently. Right. And and everybody in Sister Jean is a household name. Right. Because of because of of what basketball delivered for that campus. And so you know that that's what that's our focus when it comes to the, you know, again, prioritizing our men's and women's basketball programs.
And then all in order to do that, we're going to come back to the on the financial side of resource generation, right? So that that's that's going to continue to be top of mind for us, because in order to put our programs in position to achieve those kind of things, we have to support them in all the right ways.
So all the resource generation efforts are top of mind for us. And again, the big outcome for all that, if we're doing those things well, if we're doing athletics well, so to speak, then then we're going to then we're going to deliver, a united community. We're going to inspire our campus community. Right? We're going to bring people back to campus.
We're going to see applications go up, that halo effect that athletics can can deliver. Right? That that's that's really, the focus. And so but it but it's built on those kind of foundational pillars and, and that's really what our focus is day to day.
Well thank you so much again. We're delighted to have you on the show. We know you're super busy. It's a super busy time of year. So thank you, AD Lipitz. Hope you'll be back on the show at some point. Absolutely. I'd love to. And, you know, we didn't. We didn't touch on this, but, you know, you know, investing for me is that is a personal hobby. Oh, nice.
Right. So, so another time we can try to do a lot of that is a I'm a devout bobblehead. And so, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm very much into the space. And so another and another episode we can we do it. So now we have a built in next episode. So thank you AD Lipitz. And that's a wrap for this episode.
So thank you for watching Market News with Rodney Lake. We'll be back on the next episode. Thank you.