This morning CU formally announced the hiring of (former) New Mexico AD Fernando Lovo. There’s a ton to dive into regarding Lovo, and we’ll have a full off-season to really analyze Lovo and what he’s going to bring to CU. For starters, Lovo’s hiring (a) vaults New Mexico football coach Jason Eck into a position as the probable next football coach at CU if CU were to have an unexpected opening in the next year or so due to Deion Sanders’ health concerns; and (b) vaults New Mexico basketball coach Eric Olen as the probable successor to Tad Boyle, as both of these coaches were hired by Lovo at New Mexico in the past year.
And yes, we will dive into Lovo’s resume in due time but, frankly, that’s not a ton of fun. [As a quick aside, the most underreported aspect of Lovo’s resume – and the most important part from a smart and plugged in CU fan’s perspective — is that he oversaw nearly $500 million of capital project campaigns in his stints at the University of Texas].
Instead, today we’re going to focus on the changes that Lovo made to the New Mexico football experience in his short time in Albuquerque. The 37-year-old launched a total redo of the New Mexico football gameday experience, and it’s fair to speculate that he’ll do the same in Boulder.
So what is about to change in the football gameday experience at Folsom Field next season?
Probable Changes for Next Season
–New and Improved Pregame Fan Fest
At New Mexico, Lovo built a new pregame experience for fans called “Louie Lane.” Louie Lane was a free-entry pregame fan zone that opened 3 hours before kickoff and included the following:
-Live DJ
-Beer garden with “special pricing”
-Big screen TVs showing other games
-Food trucks
-Family/kids area
-Lobo Den pop-up store
-“Lobo Walk” team walk-through passes through Louie Lane
Lovo understands that a packaged, repeatable and university branded fan zone will boost gameday attendance and make games a full-day affair. CU already has a Fan Fest on Duane Field but there’s room for improvement. CU’s Fan Fest doesn’t have big screen TVs showing other college football games, food trucks, cheap beer, CU pop-up merchandise, DJs playing music, etc. By improving the Fan Fest, Lovo will markedly improve the gameday experience. Similarly, having the football team pass through the Fan Fest in addition to the walk through Franklin Field will make the Fan Fest more of a “must see” event.
–Improved Line/Entry Triage
Lovo understands that wasting fan’s time is a problem and leads to fans not going to football games. As a result, he focused on the unsexy stuff that can ruin the fan experience. The Alburquerque Journal describes many of the operational changes and priorities that Love had. These included improved traffic patterns (including a “no left turns” approach around the stadium), entry improvements, “100 more point of sales” including mobile vendors within the stadium, and more water access/refill options.
Someone at CU needs to focus on how fans get into and out of Folsom Field because currently it is a giant mess. The fencing maze north of the stadium is a disaster as thousands of fans are forced to walk on a narrow strip of road up and down Stadium Drive. The majority of Stadium Drive is fenced off (why?!?!) and there is only one point of entry into Folsom Field from the north when there used to be several points of entry. This creates a nightmare of foot traffic after games.
On the south side of the stadium, there is way too much fencing used to get students to use the student entry gate. It makes it tricky for fans that want to use the general “Balch Fieldhouse” entrance north of the stadium. No other stadium that I’ve been to uses such a convoluted system of fencing and walkways and it needs to stop.
Based on Lovo’s experience at New Mexico, I have some faith that these issues will be addressed.
–In Game Changes
At New Mexico, Lovo implemented a $4 value menu for hot dogs, popcorn, soda and water. [The Denver Broncos this season implemented a similar $5 value menu.] In the sports concession world, there’s been a realization that a stadium will sell more food and beverages, and ultimately make more money, if food and beverages are more reasonably priced. I expect to see Lovo implement this kind of change at Folsom next season.
Lovo also rolled out a “Kids 12 & Under Get In Free” promo, where up to two children’s tickets were included with the purchase of an adult general admission ticket. I don’t expect CU to lean on something like that in 2026—Colorado shouldn’t be in the business of giving away seats right now—but it’s easy to imagine a version of it showing up as a targeted lever for slower-selling games later in the season.
Lovo framed the program not as charity, but as a “get the stands full” strategy. “We want to create a great home field advantage for Lobo Football, and the best way to do that is to have our stands full,” Lovo said. “But we also recognize that families are making tough decisions with their discretionary income, and this feels like a win-win. It provides affordable access to a great product and a memorable experience for kids and parents alike.”
In-stadium last season, Lovo focused on fewer straight PA reads and building more energy through pacing and DJ integration. Eh.
Interesting Stuff to Read When You’re Bored
–How much are “lower tier” teams spending on NIL? Wyoming is spending $1.4m annually while FCS Montana and Montana State are each spending $2.2m on NIL.
–Speaking of NIL, the best breakdown on the current state of NIL is from The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel. Most interesting point he makes is that there are schools that have no intention of abiding by the $20.5m share and the decisions of the recently created College Sports Commissions to enforce a valid business purpose for additional payouts to players. ($)
–Playing Santa does strange things to a man.
https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/a69597294/santaland-bob-rutan
–Why a $500 Steak Dinner only yields a $25 profit. ($)
–It’s been an interesting week for one of my alma maters, Michigan. Things worked out better than could be hoped with Kyle Whittingham. And now I’m hopeful that the maize and blue win out over Ohio State in the very ridiculous “Buckeye Tears” fight.
CU-Related Whispers and Bullets
–I’ve heard from multiple sources this week that donors are growing increasingly frustrated with Deion Sanders’ relative hands off approach to recruiting. His refusal to travel for recruiting visits is creating more and more frustration. There seems to be a (hopefully momentary) pall around the program.
–CU men’s basketball had a horrific loss yesterday against KenPom’s #149 ranked Northern Colorado. Not good and hopefully not a harbinger of things to come in the Big 12 Conference. CU really missed Alon Michaeli against the Bears. CU now has the 2nd lowest KenPom ranking in the Big 12, ahead of only Utah. It could be another long Big 12 conference season at the CU Event Center (and don’t forget what I mentioned at the top of this post about Eric Olen).
–If you want to read more from BuffsBlog, check out this story suggesting a way to fix the culture and roster issues within the football team. It’s created a lot of feedback and while some folks think it’s the dumbest idea possible, others think it may actually be dumb enough to work.
Really insightful and interesting stuff (as always). I also co-sign the issues with getting into and out of Folsom. It’s a mess right now now.
Thanks Erich!
This is a fantastic blog!
The whispers that you’re hearing regarding Deion Sanders and growing frustration with donors is something that I’m hearing, too. I don’t feel particularly positive about the direction of the football program right now.
Thanks DWB. I share your concern.
It’s really not a surprise that donors are getting more and more frustrated about the Deion Sanders hands off approach to recruiting. It has not built depth, nor continuity and lastly culture within the locker room. Under Deion the program has not recruited at a high level, shown continuity or retention of players. The High School recruiting has been a massive failure going into 2026.
CU has to bring in roughly 40+ new players via the portal…let that sink in. This is 2026 not Deion’s first year at CU.
Lastly, Jason Eck is a rising Head Coach and probably a year or 2 from getting a very solid P4 job. Did a great job at Idaho and now New Mexico. Not out of the realm of possibilities to see his name on a short list of future Head Coaches at CU. He is a tough hard-nosed coach and the antithesis of Deion Sanders.
I know Eck was on a short(ish) list at Michigan this off-season. He’ll be an in-demand coach over the next couple of years and I agree that he’ll be coaching a p4 team soon.
We haven’t lost to UNC in 90 years. The basketball program is a dumpster fire now just like the football program before Prime, to which it now seems to reverting. Both programs should be code red in the AD.
The football program has taken a step in the right direction, recently with promising new coaches. When will Lovo cancel Tad’s extortionate contract and hire a new coach and staff?
Keep up the great work!
Thanks SPC. I think this will be Tad’s last season in Boulder (and I say that with some sadness as he was my high school hoops coach!). Relatedly, I also think CU fans would be wise to closley follow Eric Olen and New Mexico’s hoops team this season. Have I mentioned that? 🙂
UNC has been a good Big Sky Conference men’s basketball team since Tad coached them before taking the CU job. I did not have a good feeling about that game and unfortunately my feelings were correct. I feel that this is truly the beginning of the end of Tad’s tenure in Boulder and I was telling myself that you do not fire both the football and basketball coach in the same year. I also wasn’t sure how long it was going to take before CU hired the new AD and it was just in time for Big 12 play. Tad is toast after this season. Maybe Denver will hire him to kick start that program’s entry into the WCC.
As for the new AD, I fear we will be soon called the Buffa-lobos or Buffa-lovos.
I always cheer for UNC and agree that they’ve had some good teams up in Greeley. I also think Wisne and Denker are good players and would be 2 of the better players on CU’s team if they played for CU.
CU hoops is going to struggle becase the frontcourt just isn’t good enough.
It was surprising to see Whittingham take the Michigan job. When I spoke with Utah fans at the CU thrashing, more than a few were grumbling about the play calling during the BYU game and everyone knew Whittingham was going to retire. No one spoke of him going anywhere except for riding off into the Utah sunset. The face of Utah, BYU, and Michigan football programs is going to be interesting next year.
I’m surprised too. Michigan is going to raid Utah’s best players and coaches now, too.