Fernando Lovo is the new 37-year-old athletic director for the University of Colorado.
Lovo takes over an athletic department facing a projected $27 million deficit for the current fiscal year.
The deficit stems from new revenue-sharing costs with players and a new contract for football coach Deion Sanders.
Deion Sanders’ new athletic director at Colorado had never been to Boulder before he took the job last week and still doesn’t know the words to the Colorado fight song.
But when he gave his first news conference Monday as Sanders’ 37-year-old new boss, Fernando Lovo made sure to mention Colorado’s live bison mascot and how he’d follow Sanders’ lead as coach of the football team.
“I can’t wait to stand in Folsom Field and see Ralphie run for the first time,” said Lovo, who came to Colorado after previously serving as athletic director of New Mexico. “Coach Prime, I’m coming out right behind you, baby. We’re going. OK?”
It was the only time Lovo mentioned Sanders in his introductory news conference Jan. 5 in Boulder. But he didn’t have to. Bigger issues needed to be addressed as he takes over an athletic department that is facing a projected $27 million deficit for the current fiscal year ending June 30, 2026.
Generating revenue to cut that deficit down is one of them.
‘We’ve got to find ways to increase our revenue’
It’s why his employment contract at Colorado calls for him to get a $200,000 bonus if he can fundraise $25 million in donations by that same date.
“Early on, we’ve got to find ways to increase our revenue, right?” Lovo said.
What if he doesn’t, though?
Colorado chancellor Justin Schwartz, Lovo’s boss, used a word that suggests the top leadership of the university system has Lovo’s back as Colorado tries to navigate the changing world of college sports and all the big expenses that come with it. That word is “alignment” between the university administration, the governing Board of Regents and athletics. And it could mean the university will continue to essentially bail out athletics as necessary.
“We talk often about college athletics being the front porch of the university, and you know, in today’s era, there’s a camera and a microphone at every front door watching every front porch” Schwartz said. “So it’s an integral part of who we are. It’s a critical part of the experience of all of our students, not just the student-athletes… It’s important that we’re lockstep.”
Getting Deion Sanders team back on track a priority
Colorado previously has committed to not cutting any sports. It faces the same revenue challenges as many other schools, all of whom faced a new $20.5 million expense this year for revenue sharing with players. In Colorado’s case, the university also gave Sanders a new contract last year that nearly doubled his pay to $10 million and more annually for five years. Sanders then led his team to a 3-9 record as attendance and viewership dropped. Colorado deficit stems from those two big costs.
Meanwhile, faculty and staff on campus have been told to pinch pennies because of the larger budget situation on campus.
Getting football back on track will help him drive revenue and navigate that situation. Lovo becomes only the seventh full-time athletic director in school history and replaces Rick George, who previously announced he was stepping into a new role effective July 1, 2026. George will stay on until then to show Lovo the ropes and help fundraise for the school after that. He will make $1.2 million annually and has incentives in his contract to make more than that. For example, he’ll get another $200,000 if he can fundraise an additional $25 million between July 1, 2026 and June 30, 2027.
“To me, this is a destination job,” Lovo said. “This is an unbelievable, first and foremost, academic institution that has an iconic brand, one that’s recognizable, not just here in the United States, but across the globe. And those opportunities don’t come along very often. And when you talk about a couple of things, the leadership, and the alignment of the leadership, from the regents to the president, all the way down to the Chancellor… And then to be able to come in and follow just an incredible human being, and a great leader, and administrator, in Rick George, this was the just the perfect opportunity for me and for my family.”
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com