Sometimes, a bird in the hand isn’t worth anywhere near two in the bush. In September, the University of Washington School of Business struck a $50 million deal with a family foundation to rebrand itself the Michael G. Foster School of Business at the University of Washington, honoring its largest donor. But as precious a commodity as a school’s name may be, it could prove far more valuable unsold.
In October, the University of Wisconsin School of Business announced that about a dozen alumni had donated a total of $85 million to keep it from selling its name for the next 20 years. In the months since, the value of the school’s name has already appreciated by about $2 million, according to the calculations of Dean Mike Knetter. It took Knetter two years of smooth talking to convince alumni that cash donations remained even more valuable without naming rights.