UK, JMI Sports ink historic multimedia rights deal, focused on financial stability, opportunities for athletics

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 12, 2025) — The University of Kentucky and JMI Sports, a leading multimedia rights and venue development company, today announced a historic multimedia rights agreement valued at more than $465 million. The agreement, which extends the existing contract between UK and JMI Sports through 2040, would rank among the largest deals in college athletics.

The expanded partnership was announced Tuesday morning during the inaugural meeting of the Champions Blue Board of Governors. Established in April, Champions Blue is a non-profit LLC that serves as the holding company for UK Athletics, designed to create greater operational flexibility and unlock new revenue generation opportunities.
           
The Champions Blue Board of Governors endorsed the agreement extension at the meeting.
           
“We have entered a new rapidly changing, but exciting era in college athletics,” said UK President Eli Capilouto, who serves as chair of the Champions Blue Board of Governors. “This amendment to our multimedia rights deal – forged with a trusted partner in JMI Sports – underscores the idea that we will be strategically aggressive and smartly innovative as we seek a financial trajectory that ensures we remain one of the top athletics programs in the country, a program that is also central to how our university advances this state.”

Key Provisions Introduced Under Expanded Partnership

Building on more than a decade of successful collaboration between UK and JMI Sports, the agreement reflects a shared commitment to innovation, adaptability and long-term growth. In addition to multimedia rights, JMI Sports will now provide strategic support across name, image and likeness (NIL) operations and advise UK on facility development opportunities and fan engagement experiences designed to drive revenue and help UK remain competitive in the evolving college athletics landscape.

“The mission and values remain the same – to put championship rings on fingers and diplomas in hands in ways that create generational opportunities for student-athletes at the University of Kentucky,” said Mitch Barnhart, UK’s Director of Athletics, who also serves on the Champions Blue Board. “How we forge that path, and ensure that mission, will change in this new landscape. This agreement is about creating the revenue opportunities  for our programs and our student-athletes that will help ensure our continued success.”

Key terms of the multimedia rights agreement include: 

• An extension of the current multimedia rights agreement between UK and JMI Sports from 2034 to 2040 with a conservative estimated value exceeding $465 million, making it one of the largest deals in all of intercollegiate athletics by financial value.
• A new revenue-sharing model that provides greater flexibility for Champions Blue, allocating 80% of net revenue from all inventory and advertising opportunities to UK and Champions Blue over next 15 years.
• An innovative model, in partnership with JMI Sports, that introduces new services and incentivizes revenue growth across existing multimedia rights, athletics facilities investments, expansion of JMI Sports-managed NIL opportunities and the development of new sponsorship categories.

New multimedia rights opportunities for the 2025-2026 season include field-level and end zone video signage at Kroger Field, as well as signage behind home plate and throughout Kentucky Proud Park. JMI Sports is also actively pursuing additional facility naming rights across athletics venues.

“Since 2014, when the University of Kentucky became our first multimedia rights property, the Wildcats have been a foundational partner of JMI Sports. This is not only because of the scale of the partnership and the depth of relationship but also due to the collaboration, trust and the extraordinary results we have built together over the past decade,” said Erik Judson, co-founder and CEO of JMI Sports.

“This expanded agreement reflects everything we have learned throughout our partnership, and how we are evolving to meet the demands of a rapidly changing college sports landscape. Being a great partner today requires more than delivering on revenue. It requires deeper expertise, aligned interests and strategic, forward-thinking support that enables UK to navigate this new era with confidence. That is the foundation of the new model we have built together at Kentucky.”

An Update on Strategic Enhancements to Athletics Facilities

In April 2025, the UK Board of Trustees approved the establishment of a new model and governance structure – the Board of Governors of Champions Blue LLC – to help ensure the future health and financial trajectory of athletics at the University of Kentucky.

Champions Blue is a subsidiary of Beyond Blue Corporation, a holding company that supports University activities in all aspects of its mission, including health care, insurance and shared services. As an affiliated corporation, Beyond Blue allows the University to abide by all public entity rules and laws and for the UK Board of Trustees to approve strategies, budgets and investments, while creating a level of policy separation and operational distinctiveness to focus on one core business.

In June, the UK Board of Trustees approved up to $110 million in investments in UK athletics facilities over the next few years through an internal loan that will be repaid with interest. Champions Blue Board members also heard updates on those investments during Tuesday’s meeting. The initial investments include:

• Nearly $30 million for maintenance at Kroger Field Stadium and the renovation of corner suites and elevators and $8 million for initial design of a West End Zone Club space and wi-fi improvements at Kroger Field.
• $5 million to improve the soccer and softball facilities; UK Softball will host the SEC tournament in 2026.
• A Request For Information (RFI) to develop an Entertainment District on the UK campus, which could include concepts such as restaurants, hotels and other entertainment options.