As he prepares to pack and move from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Boulder, Fernando Lovo knows there will be challenges.
On a personal level, Lovo and his wife, Jordan, are set to begin the challenging process of moving and then finding a new home and a school for their young children in the Boulder area.
Professionally, the challenges are greater, but Colorado’s new athletic director is bringing enthusiasm to what he knows will be a pressure-packed job.
Officially announced as CU’s seventh full-time AD on Monday, replacing Rick George, who is stepping into a new role, Lovo spoke with BuffZone on Tuesday about the challenges he’ll embrace.
“Obviously a lot of Power 4 programs are navigating similar pressures that we are right now,” Lovo, who spent the past 13 months as AD at New Mexico, said in a phone interview. “To me, it’s beyond the obvious ones of NIL, (revenue) share, and above the cap-type of things that really help you create a competitive advantage.”
Getting the football program on track is a priority, as well, after head coach Deion Sanders’ team stumbled to a 3-9 finish (1-8 Big 12) this year.
Yet, as Lovo begins his new job – Thursday is his official start date and he’ll arrive in Boulder for the first time ever this weekend – there is one challenge that stands above the rest.
“The critical piece right now, I think first and foremost, is generating more revenue,” Lovo said, “and I think that’s something that we’re going to be really, really aggressive in.”
CU athletics faces a potential budget deficit of $27 million for the current fiscal year.
The two main reasons for the deficit are: first, CU, like many of its peers, is providing $20.5 million in revenue sharing payments to student-athletes after the NCAA v. House settlement earlier this year; and, second, a new five-year $54 million contract extension for Sanders, which included a salary increase of $4.3 million from 2024.
Even before Lovo was hired, CU officials told BuffZone that efforts are being made to generate more revenue and reduce that $27 million deficit.
Lovo will attack that challenge not only for this fiscal year, but for CU’s future.
“I think we have a great foundation that will allow us to really explore some verticals of revenues that we haven’t maybe necessarily explored in the past before, or that we have and we need to increase what we’re doing there,” Lovo said.
Lovo had great success on many levels during his short time at New Mexico, including when it came to generating revenue. According to UNM, Lovo helped the Lobos produce a record amount of revenue, as the operating budget increased by 17.6% from fiscal year 2025 to fiscal year 2026.
Per his bio page at New Mexico, Lovo hit “record marks in ticket sales, multimedia rights, parking, concessions, and trademark and licensing revenue – along with a record year in Lobo Club fundraising.”
Lovo is hoping to break similar records at CU. And, as he begins his new job, he said keeping the Buffs’ facilities busy is one key to revenue generation.
“I say all the time: empty parking lot, empty seats, and that’s not good for our bottom line,” he said. “So we’ve got to make sure that we’re doing that.”
In general, it will take a bit of time for Lovo to learn more about the landscape, because generating revenue at CU will be different than it was at New Mexico.
“I’m really excited to get there and really dive in,” he said. “Going into it, the one thing that’s 100% certain is the power of our brand and our institution. That’s a huge selling point. And then you look at our location. Obviously, Boulder is a great place; Denver being right there, that’s a really powerful market.”
Taking advantage of having one of the most recognizable football coaches in the country is important, too, he said.
“The visibility that (Sanders) brings to our institution and to our state is amazing,” he said. “We have to leverage that.”
Overall, Lovo sees a tremendous amount of revenue potential at CU and he’s eager to help the Buffs reach a new level of financial success.
“I think it creates a really compelling narrative for us to be able to go out, market our brand and sell it, when it comes to sponsorship opportunities,” he said. “Obviously we need butts in seats as well, and so we’ve got to be competitive, and we need to make sure that our attendance numbers are where they need to be.”
Lovo credited for George for “developing a great culture” at CU. Like George, Lovo said the student-athletes will be the No. 1 priority.
“Everything for us is going to be student first, student-athlete centric,” he said. “In the midst of all of that going on and making sure we’re staying competitive and really increasing our revenue, we’ve got to keep our focus on what our why is and that’s graduating our student-athletes. That’s providing all the resources they need from a student success standpoint, from a mental well-being standpoint, sports science, sports medicine, all of those things. Those things still matter.”
As Lovo begins his new job, he knows this is a critical time in college athletics.
“We’ve got a powerful brand with a ton of upside across all of our sports,” he said. “I think CU is uniquely positioned to be able to respond to those challenges, and that’s what it’s all about. It’s how we respond. We be aggressive, we have disciplined decision making, and we keep our student-athletes first, and that’s what we’re going to do.
“We don’t have time to waste. Now’s the time we’ve got to go and it’s critically important that we sell our brand, we market our brand, and we start to find new avenues to generate revenue to help us be competitive.”