An Eastern Kentucky University football game against the University of Kentucky is a significant event for players, coaches, and fans of the Richmond-based school.
While much attention focused on Kroger Field in Lexington Saturday where UK won the game 27 to 16, EKU President Michael Benson noted another important event that day.
Benson says EKU and UK are entering into an agreement for a partnership tied to research-related patents.
“We’re going to share some of the infrastructure they have in place where our faculty if they want to take something, a device or an invention, a development to market, we can take advantage of the expertise they have, the legal work that they’ve done, and kind of triage that into the marketplace,” explained Benson.
The agreement with UK was expected to be codified on Saturday.
In addition to the national exposure for Eastern’s athletic team, the university also benefits financially. The so called “revenue game” netted EKU about a half a million dollars.
President Michael Benson says that will be coupled with $350,000 earned by playing Western Kentucky, another Football Bowl Subdivision school, last weekend.
“So, you’re looking just south of a million dollars that’s going to go into the athletic budget to help address some of the other needs we have in athletics to take some of the reliance off of the E and G budget that we give to athletics,” said Benson.
"E and G" refers to Education and General Expenses budget. There are no more “money” games on Eastern’s schedule this season. On September 23rd, the focus for the team turns to conference play with a game against Tennessee Tech.
