Transcript from June 21 High Point Solutions News Conference
Jun 21 | Football
Tim Pernetti, Rutgers Director of Intercollegiate Athletics
First and foremost I want to welcome the High Point Solutions people and thank you guys for joining us down here. We really look forward to getting to know all of you through this partnership. Before we get started, I want to thank Tom and Mike [Mendiburu] from High Point Solutions. This agreement came together relatively quickly. It was great to sit down with some people who really understand, not only the value of Rutgers and our football program but understand the opportunity that we can provide their company to grow their business and the best case scenario, a New Jersey company, which is really what we set out to do in the beginning. I also wanted to thank Brett Yormark and Mike Zavodsky from Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment. We worked very closely with Brett and Mike through the process, they made the introduction to these guys and we’re very grateful for all the hard work they provided. [Brett and Mike] couldn’t be with us today but we wanted to thank them. I also wanted thank the folks at IMG College that we worked closely with as well as Nelligan Sports Marketing, and obviously our administration. [Rutgers President] Dick McCormick, the administration and our Board of Governors really supported us moving forward with this. Last is Coach Schiano. I wanted to thank Greg. Our football program has given us the opportunity to do this. Greg has done a great job in 10 years building a program that I think Tom and Mike identified with what it stands for, what it is and how good it is for New Jersey, and Greg and our football program have given us the opportunity to be here today.
A year ago, we started this process and we very clearly stated that we wanted to get into business with somebody that was an expert in the field and through the process, we found Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment and IMG College to work with. We really spent the first chunk of time trying to do an evaluation of the property. We never really dug into, look at number of events, exposure, TV ratings, attendance, how all those things tie into the opportunity. As far as the process we feel like we ended up in a great place. Last year, the Audi Rutgers Club was unveiled as a naming opportunity and today our football stadium with High Point Solutions and going forward there are so many other pieces to our stadium, the RAC and other facilities that we plan to attack. We were looking for a very specific kind of fit. Maybe to our own detriment, we were picky. We were looking for good people, we were looking for a New Jersey company and we were looking for somebody with the same core values as our football program and today we found High Point Solutions as that group. They want this to be a classy execution and I think High Point Solutions is not only great for us, they’re great for Rutgers. These guys are an innovative New Jersey company, I expect that they will very aggressive in competing for business on our campus and I think all around, Rutgers wins. Today, Rutgers Stadium is now High Point Solutions Stadium. The deal is a 10 year agreement with High Point Solutions with approximately $6.5 million over the term, but beyond that, we are really flattered at the investment that these gentlemen have made in Rutgers football and Rutgers Athletics. For us, it gives us the opportunity to create new revenue streams, be able invest in our football program and keep Coach Schiano and our student-athletes competitive at a very high level.
Mike Mendiburu, Co-Founder, President of High Point Solutions
I thought it might make sense to start out by answering a couple questions. First question is, who is High Point and the second question is how did we get here. High Point is not exactly a household name but I thought I’d go into it and tell you a little bit about the company and how we arrived here. It is really amazing to be standing here before you and I wanted to inform you that the American Dream really is alive in the United States and particularly in New Jersey. When we started High Point, we really had none of this in mind. As a matter of fact, we probably shouldn’t be here today if you went by the book. We didn’t have any financial support and we really had no outside support whatsoever when we started the company, my wife Heather and I and my brother Tom, back in the downstairs bedroom of our home located all the way up in the northwest corner of this fine state in 1996. It’s interesting, in the face of business today and all the business corruption, we’ve been repeatedly blessed and rewarded for doing what’s right. We have an amazing team of hardworking folks who are creative and committed to doing the right thing in all circumstances, to the point where in these short two years; we’ve really become a multi-national provider of infrastructure and data center solutions to large enterprise organizations, mid-size business as well as educational and government institutions. A new market for us, which is why we’re here today, was through our sports/entertainment practice and the relationship Brett Yormark and Mike Zavodsky, the New Jersey Nets and their marketing organizations. In these recent, economically challenging times, I would submit that there hasn’t been a more challenging time to start and manage a business. We have really been blessed to see a 35-40 percent year over year growth the past few years. In 2010, we’ve seen a 40 percent growth in the head count on our team. We are really blessed to be able to provide an environment that is growing in New Jersey and adding those much needed jobs. Outside the growth, if you look inside of our company, in the 15 years in business, our turnover rate has been virtually zero employees. The total turnover has been four people in that span of time and that’s not to Mike and Tom’s credit, that speaks to the foundational principles of honesty, integrity and trust that drive our business and has driven us to be here today. We’re really looking forward to supporting Rutgers both on the field and off the field. Aside from any financial investment we’ve made, we want to try and help the organization from the areas of entrepreneurship, business ethics and business leadership to the student body. So any way we can help build New Jersey business and partner with Rutgers in that endeavor is something important to High Point.
Where specifically does the money in this deal go to?
Tim Pernetti: The investment in the stadium naming, as we’ve said for two years now, while the climate is difficult, we’ve done a great job in the last year of generating new revenue with the football program. If you look at what these guys are doing for us, what Audi did for us a year ago in the Audi Rutgers Club, we’ve generated $1 million dollars of new revenue in naming opportunities and we’re not done. There are plenty of things both in and around Rutgers Stadium, the RAC and other facilities. The bottom line is that the football program has given the ability to generate these additional dollars and what we will do, we’ll reinvest these dollars in the football program in the ways we see fit, in the most responsible way we know how to make sure we can stay competitive at the highest level.
What has been the response of people who are traditionalist and like Rutgers Stadium? Have you been met with resistance and do you care?
Tim Pernetti: Of course we care, being one of the guys that played in Rutgers Stadium, the old Rutgers Stadium before it was even a shell of this facility. Traditionalists are what’s great about college sports. They’re our best supporters and they’re always there for us no matter what and the bottom line is, at the same time, being picky through the process was the most important asset we had because we weren’t out there to partner with just the highest bidder or anyone. We were trying to find somebody and find a partner that reflected the same things the words Rutgers Stadium reflect. The product on the field will be as memorable as anything that gets done or put on the stadium so I think those two things need to work hand in hand. You heard Mike talk about the core values, honesty, integrity and trust. You know the core values of the football program and it’s very much a perfect marriage on that front. The traditionalist, while there is always going to be a learning curve and I’m sure there’s going to be the people that will refuse personally to call it anything but Rutgers Stadium, that’s OK.
How will this investment help Rutgers University and all of the students at this school who are not athletes?
Tim Pernetti: As I said in my opening comments, as you all get to know High Point Solutions a little bit more, this is a very innovative group of people that have proven by the work they’ve done in New Jersey, the United States and across the world that they have brought great value to everybody they’ve worked with. As Mike said as well, they’re planning on investing in more than just the football stadium. There is business at this campus in the realm of what High Point Solutions does in IT infrastructure, I’m pretty sure they intend to compete for it and pretty sure they’re going to win some of that business, and in the process I think they’re going to make Rutgers a much more productive and innovative place.
What is the relationship between Rutgers and High Point Solution besides the naming rights agreement?
Tim Pernetti: Relationships are everything in this business. The bottom line is, even if we believed in what High Point Solutions did as a company and how it could fit for Rutgers, and it had the wrong kind of people running the company, I’m not sure we would be sitting here right now. As choosy as I know our football coach is when he recruits looking for good people, we’re the same way with everything we do in business. I think beyond the naming, we all agreed privately, will be the tip of the iceberg. It’s on us at Rutgers now, given what these guys are investing, to help them grow their business. I think that’s just as important as anything that will in this deal, is our ability to help them grow their business along the way.
Mike Mendiburu: I would say that our relationship with Rutgers is going to be very similar to our relationships any other business partner or client. It comes down to the core driving force in High Point as to ensure the success of the people around us. Whatever we can do to help Rutgers be successful and competitive and help them achieve their goals, that’s really what it comes down to.
Do either of you [Mendiburu brothers] have any ties or relationship to Rutgers?
Tom Mendiburu: No we did not. It kind of came about in a funny way. I was actually traveling with the New Jersey Nets on a trip London some months back and Brett Yormark approached me with the idea in having interest in sponsoring the stadium. It sounded great right off the bat and we got together when we got back into town, and we came up for a visit. It was actually a pretty simple process.
Did you turn down higher bids and why was important to stick with a New Jersey company?
Tim Pernetti: As part of the process we had interaction with quite a few companies and as much as they evaluated us, we evaluated them. I don’t really want to get into the details of any other bids or offers or conversations we entertained because the bottom line is whatever it was, we didn’t feel like it was the right fit in a complete way before we got to meet Mike and Tom [Mendiburu]. You know me, I’m a New Jersey loyalist, and I’ve always been that way. I think given these times, given the climate in the state, as much as we feel like success in athletics and building programs the right way, graduating our student-athletes, achieving academically at the highest level, brings people in New Jersey together. I think that New Jersey people need to be working with New Jersey people. New Jersey businesses need to be supporting New Jersey businesses so for us, I think it’s a great statement in a time where everything is challenging that you face in the state of New Jersey, that you see New Jersey working with New Jersey. I don’t think there could be a better way to do this as a state university than to do it with a New Jersey company.
Are you going to have any trouble with this and letting go of Rutgers Stadium?
Greg Schiano: I am thrilled because it’s something that’s going to help Rutgers, and we’re in a relationship with great people – you listen to these guys talk and it sounds very familiar and although they’re just words, you look, as Tim and people at the university did, you look into their background, they walk their talk. It’s very important that if we were going to do a naming rights deal, that it would be with the right type of people and the right type of business. I’m very confident that we’re in that kind of relationship. It’s a great opportunity as I said. I think it makes sense. It’s great for both parties and when it boils down, it’s people that makes the difference. It’s the people that we’ve done the deal with, it’s the people that will play and coach on that field and it’s the people that will sit in the student section, and all throughout the stadium that makes the Rutgers family. I think it’s something that’s great for our athletic department and our football program.
