UA Changes Hog Store, Plans Three New Locations
by March 17, 2003 12:00 am 98 views
On April 1, eSports Partners Inc. of Dallas will take over operation of the University of Arkansas’ Razorback shops in Bud Walton Arena and Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.
Hog Heaven, the store in Walton Arena, opened in 1992 and has been managed by Follett Bookstores for most of the past decade, said Tom Dorre, the UA’s associate athletic director. The UA took over operation of that store last year. The Stadium Store is only open during Razorback football games at the stadium.
Dorre said the two stores together bring in between $950,000 and $1 million per year in sales.
ESports manages stores for the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Washington Redskins, Minnesota Vikings, Baltimore Ravens, Jacksonville Jaguars and Arizona Cardinals.
“The only thing they do is sports,” said Matt Shanklin, the UA’s assistant athletic director for marketing and licensing. Shanklin said the UA plans to sign a six year contract with eSports.
Dorre said the UA will receive a percentage of the amount of revenue brought in by eSports at the two Fayetteville stores, but the contract had not been singed as of March 5, so he couldn’t reveal what that percentage will be.
Ali Sadeghi, the UA’s bookstore director, said the university is promoting its mail-order business and plans to open three new Razorback Shops in Fayetteville — one at the Northwest Arkansas Mall in May and two later at 800 to 900-SF visitors centers planned for the UA campus.