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GEO Group to pay $6 million to school
By Dieter Kurtenbach
4:32 a.m. EST, February 20, 2013
BOCA RATON—
When the Florida Atlantic University athletic department completed construction on its $70 million football stadium in 2011, it knew it would need big money player to help its cause.
On Tuesday, it found a partner.
The university called a special meeting of its Board of Trustees to formally accept a gift of $6 million from the Boca Raton-based GEO Group. In exchange for the gift, FAU Stadium be renamed GEO Group Stadium for the next 12 years.
GEO Group is a private correctional facilities company that owns or runs more than 100 properties, operating 73,000 beds across North America, and into Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom. The company holds just shy of $3 billion in total assets and brought in $1.7 billion in revenue in 2012. Locally, the GEO Group runs the nearly 2,000-bed South Bay Correctional facility and the 700-bed Broward Transition Center in Pompano Beach, which holds immigration detainees.
GEO Group's founder and CEO, George Zoley, is an FAU alumnus and former chair of the school's Board of Trustees. Zoley said after the board unanimously approved the naming of the stadium that keeping the company's philanthropic donations local was important to him.
“We couldn't be more local,” Zoley said. “This is the finest example of community outreach our company has activated in its history.”
GEO Group has come under fire by civil libertarians, as well as state and federal regulators, for its treatment of inmates and employees. GEO Group was fined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in June, and the company has lost lawsuits pertaining to mistreatment of inmates.
Both FAU Athletic Director Pat Chun and FAU President Mary Jane Saunders said they had no qualms in naming the $70 million football stadium after GEO Group. “It's a gift,” Chun said. “At the end of the day, they're being to be responsible citizens, responsible to the local community. They're trying to make a difference here, so no trepidation at all.”
“We're delighted that we've reached a point where we have a local company stepping up to name this stadium,” Saunders said. “They're a wonderful company and we're very, very proud to be partnered with them.”
The naming rights deal — which is the athletic department’s largest contribution — brought closure to what Chun called his top priority upon accepting his position in July. “This was literally priority No. 1, because once you look at the finances of this stadium, our athletic program, the necessity was there to find a name partner,” Chun said.
When FAU Stadium opened, there was no secret of the school's need to have a corporate sponsor to pay for its yearly function. FAU advertised a $5 million price tag for the naming rights, which would have been for 10 years. Former FAU Athletic Director Craig Angelos failed to secure naming rights in the year after building the stadium, one of the primary reasons he was fired last April.
The $6 million is a lump sum and Chun said that money will go to balancing the department's budget.
“We need to hit a home run with ticket sales, we need to hit a home run with fundraising, but this is a big piece,” Chun said. “I'm not going to lie, this is a landmark day for athletic department. We needed this as much as it needed anything.”
Chun said that GEO Group was his best lead, and because of the way the FAU athletic department's finances were structured, he pursued that lead with “the ultimate sense of urgency”. Initial conversations began last fall but developed in earnest in the past two months, Chun said, leading to Tuesday's special meeting.
“These deals are hard to do,” Chun said. “I would tell everyone that if getting venues named were easy, you'd see a bunch of venues named across this country.”
There's no timetable for when the GEO Group Stadium signage will be erected, but Chun said that the school would work expeditiously on the transformation.
By Dieter Kurtenbach
4:32 a.m. EST, February 20, 2013
BOCA RATON—
When the Florida Atlantic University athletic department completed construction on its $70 million football stadium in 2011, it knew it would need big money player to help its cause.
On Tuesday, it found a partner.
- Related
Artist's conception of the FAU football stadium as sponsored by GEO group, a private correctional facilities company.
Welcome to The Big House
The university called a special meeting of its Board of Trustees to formally accept a gift of $6 million from the Boca Raton-based GEO Group. In exchange for the gift, FAU Stadium be renamed GEO Group Stadium for the next 12 years.
GEO Group is a private correctional facilities company that owns or runs more than 100 properties, operating 73,000 beds across North America, and into Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom. The company holds just shy of $3 billion in total assets and brought in $1.7 billion in revenue in 2012. Locally, the GEO Group runs the nearly 2,000-bed South Bay Correctional facility and the 700-bed Broward Transition Center in Pompano Beach, which holds immigration detainees.
GEO Group's founder and CEO, George Zoley, is an FAU alumnus and former chair of the school's Board of Trustees. Zoley said after the board unanimously approved the naming of the stadium that keeping the company's philanthropic donations local was important to him.
“We couldn't be more local,” Zoley said. “This is the finest example of community outreach our company has activated in its history.”
GEO Group has come under fire by civil libertarians, as well as state and federal regulators, for its treatment of inmates and employees. GEO Group was fined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in June, and the company has lost lawsuits pertaining to mistreatment of inmates.
Both FAU Athletic Director Pat Chun and FAU President Mary Jane Saunders said they had no qualms in naming the $70 million football stadium after GEO Group. “It's a gift,” Chun said. “At the end of the day, they're being to be responsible citizens, responsible to the local community. They're trying to make a difference here, so no trepidation at all.”
“We're delighted that we've reached a point where we have a local company stepping up to name this stadium,” Saunders said. “They're a wonderful company and we're very, very proud to be partnered with them.”
The naming rights deal — which is the athletic department’s largest contribution — brought closure to what Chun called his top priority upon accepting his position in July. “This was literally priority No. 1, because once you look at the finances of this stadium, our athletic program, the necessity was there to find a name partner,” Chun said.
When FAU Stadium opened, there was no secret of the school's need to have a corporate sponsor to pay for its yearly function. FAU advertised a $5 million price tag for the naming rights, which would have been for 10 years. Former FAU Athletic Director Craig Angelos failed to secure naming rights in the year after building the stadium, one of the primary reasons he was fired last April.
The $6 million is a lump sum and Chun said that money will go to balancing the department's budget.
“We need to hit a home run with ticket sales, we need to hit a home run with fundraising, but this is a big piece,” Chun said. “I'm not going to lie, this is a landmark day for athletic department. We needed this as much as it needed anything.”
Chun said that GEO Group was his best lead, and because of the way the FAU athletic department's finances were structured, he pursued that lead with “the ultimate sense of urgency”. Initial conversations began last fall but developed in earnest in the past two months, Chun said, leading to Tuesday's special meeting.
“These deals are hard to do,” Chun said. “I would tell everyone that if getting venues named were easy, you'd see a bunch of venues named across this country.”
There's no timetable for when the GEO Group Stadium signage will be erected, but Chun said that the school would work expeditiously on the transformation.
