Mizzou Athletics restructures fundraising model in shifting landscape of college athletics

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Mizzou Athletics is making changes to align with the new era of college athletics.

On Monday, MU announced that it is adopting a new fundraising structure, which will focus on elevating competitive success in the ever-evolving world of college sports. The biggest change will be coming to the 'Tiger Scholarship Fund.'

The university said that the function of that fund, which covers all scholarship, academic support, costs of attendance and Mizzou Made resources for all 20 sports, will remain the same. However, the fund will be reimagined to the 'Mizzou Athletics Fund,' beginning on Jan. 1, 2025.

"We are on a mission to deliver consistent, high-level winning programs like our fans have never experienced before," Athletic Director Laird Veatch said in a press release. "As college athletics prepares to enter the revenue-sharing era, we have been laser focused on finding ways to elevate Mizzou's position and capitalize on the opportunities in front of us. As part of our fundraising restructuring efforts, renaming the Tiger Scholarship Fund the Mizzou Athletics Fund will more accurately reflect how our donors already contribute to much more than scholarships. At the same time, we will simplify our giving programs to more clearly align our donor benefits with contributions that will be so vital to our sustained competitive success."

In a press release, MU said that the Mizzou Athletics Fund will focus on three main areas.

• "Game Day Priority: provides fans priority access to the seating and parking options they desire"
  
• "The Mizzou Leadership Circle: will recognize and steward our top donors who give above and beyond seat-related donations, and joining will unlock additional stewardship opportunities such as VIP events, team travel and special access"
  
• "The Mizzou Legacy Societies: will recognize lifetime philanthropic support of Mizzou Athletics"

“The Mizzou Athletics Fund is designed to make it simple for current contributors to understand what they are helping support and for new supporters to get involved,” Mizzou Executive Athletics Director/Chief Revenue Officer Blair DeBord said in a press release. “Whether someone is interested in traditional game day elements like parking, ticket locations or postseason ticket priority or they are looking for unique, elevated VIP experiences or access, our new programs are designed to motivate current and future supporters to join our ‘Will to Win.’

Mizzou also said that football season ticket renewals and Mizzou Athletic Fund renewals for the upcoming 2025-26 athletic season will be delivered digitally to all donors in the coming days. The digital invoices will show a significant increase in ticket price and priority donation for football and also for men's basketball. However, ticket prices for hoops will not be announced until a later date.

MU Athletics said their representatives will be reaching out to donors and season ticket holders, individually, to answer any questions. In addition, Mizzou is also planning to hold numerous 'town hall,' style meetings throughout the winter and spring to discuss.

“This next stage of college athletics will be even more about resource investment to secure top-tier talent,” Veatch continued. “Change is never easy, but we remain highly energized by the collective will to win of the Mizzou faithful. We will continue to lock arms together to take Mizzou to new heights.”