Iowa Lottery, Iowa athletics agree to sponsorship

IOWA CITY - More than four years after mutually severing ties, University of Iowa athletics and Hawkeye Sports Properties agreed to a one-year sponsorship with the Iowa Lottery this summer.

In an Iowa Lottery fall campaign called "The Great American Tailgate," Iowa, Iowa State and Northern Iowa fans can drop off non-winning tickets at the schools' football stadiums and have the opportunity to win a personalized football tailgate. Iowa State and Northern Iowa officials previously agreed to the campaign.

"They've made sure they live within our parameters so they won't be using the Iowa logo, fight song or our name in their television commercials," Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta said.

In February 2007, the Iowa Lottery's sponsorship of Iowa athletics turned into a contentious debate between Barta and the Presidential Committee on Athletics after the lottery used a modified version of the "Iowa Fight Song" in a television commercial.

The estate of Meredith Willson, who wrote the "Iowa Fight Song," still holds the song's copyright and threatened legal action against the Iowa Lottery for intellectual property infringement. The Iowa Lottery received permission from Iowa to use the song. Barta eventually ended the sponsorship after the UI Faculty Council, the Faculty Senate and the Presidential Committee on Athletics all voted to encourage the athletics department to sever its ties with the Iowa Lottery.

Barta said the Iowa Lottery comes to him each year with sponsorship ideas, but he has turned them down each year until now. He canvassed the PCA's executive committee this summer for their support, and the committee voted 4-1 in favor. Barta then took "The Great American Tailgate" theme to UI President Sally Mason, who approved it.

But there was dissent - largely procedural - from the PCA on Thursday. There were no full PCA meetings in the summer so there was no discussion against renewing the relationship, PCA member Michael O'Hara said.

"Knowing how controversial this issue was and knowing that they come back every summer with some new idea, I'm still troubled, Gary and Bill (Hines, PCA chairman)," O'Hara said. "This was all handled during the summer and also that it wasn't part of a public PCA process. It doesn't leave those of us who have concerns about an association with gambling interests and knowing the impact of gambling on our citizens and our students, feeling very good about the process. Maybe it's fine, I don't know. But the process is troubling."

Hines said the support was lukewarm among executive committee members.

"Even though the executive committee didn't recommend against it, there was no enthusiasm by the executive committee for the very reasons that Mike indicates," Hines said. "We're not happy to start up the Lottery again, but there didn't seem to be any strong objection to it.

 "The president made the decision knowing her executive committee of the PCA wasn't jumping up for joy."

Hawkeye Sports Properties is a subsidiary of Learfield Communications and handles Iowa's corporate sponsorships.