Driving Record-Breaking Revenue | Margins of Victory: Brent Jones
Brent Jones, Georgia Tech Associate VP and Executive Deputy AD, joins Loyola Marymount Director of Athletics Craig Pintens to share how a culture of creativity, collaboration, and relentless focus on the fan experience helped fuel a record-breaking year for the Yellow Jackets. Jones discusses the department's all-time revenue high of $175 million, driven by initiatives such as 57 athletic event sellouts, record fundraising, expanded premium seating, major stadium concerts, and operational improvements designed to enhance every aspect of the game-day experience. Jones also reflects on lessons learned throughout his career, from launching unique licensing partnerships at Troy to transforming underutilized spaces into premium experiences at Georgia Tech, while reinforcing that success comes from clear vision, accountability, and an unwavering commitment to serving fans and student-athletes.00:00 - Introduction01:30 - You actually hit the longest home run in UNC-Ashville history. Is that correct?01:48 - How did it feel to hit a baseball like that?02:38 - You grew up in Stone Mountain, Georgia. You’re back at Georgia Tech. What does it mean to come home and how did that opportunity come together? 04:48 - When you were the AD at Troy, you launched an officially licensed craft beer, bourbon and wine at Troy. Those were all firsts in the state of Alabama. How did that come about?07:05 - Let's move back to Georgia Tech. You're coming off an amazing year, just posted an all time revenue record at 175 million That's up 12%, and it happened in your first year on The Flats. So when you look at that $19 million jump, and obviously, some of that has to do with winning on the field definitely helps.But how much of that comes from some structural changes, maybe that were made externally? 10:14 - One of the things I want to focus on, you touched on something there that's really important, kind of this concept of a horizontal department, and that's so important when you're trying to generate revenue. How do you get that message across to people that might not necessarily be attached to a day to day job responsibility attache to maybe some of the revenue generating components of the department?13:27 - Obviously, there's a lot of pressure on everybody to generate more revenue right now with the House settlement and one of the major ways to do that is philanthropically and the Alexander Tharpun crossed the $100 million mark for the first time ever, at 110 million, which is a 49% increase. In this era where fans are being asked more and more to help fund essentially rosters. How did the development team frame kind of that full steam ahead campaign so that donors gave at that level or even beyond maybe what they had done in the past?17:54 - You brought some major concerts there at Bobby Dodd Stadium for the first time in 11 years. I think you had three sold out nights with Chris Brown and Bruno Mars. What kind of the revenue that you can bring in from that? What did those shows prove to maybe maybe the Greater Atlanta DMA, but then also kind of your own campus community going forward?21:21- You talked earlier about hitting 57 sellouts. What kind of changes were made this year from a focus standpoint? 25:14- What is something in your career that was a fail? What did you learn from it?29:27 - Going back to Georgia Tech, there's a switch to Under Armour and licensing royalties went up, and part of that is Under Armour was able to deliver kind of more of that classic rich Tech gold color that the fans had wanted. How much of it comes down to distribution and footprint and how much of it is actually getting the look and cultural details of the merchandise right for your fans?31:59 - What are some new revenue buckets you’re exploring? 36:36 - Who is your all-time favorite athlete?
