In Honolulu, Kennedy Choo wrote the Univ. of Hawaii has reached a four-year, $30M deal with Hawaii News Now and its network-affiliate channels that makes it the “official broadcasting partners for UH athletics.” The deal includes a 110-game schedule that includes football, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s volleyball, baseball, softball and women’s soccer. Spectrum Sports had rights for 15 years, but UH under that deal “did not qualify for the conference’s media rights payout” since Spectrum was a local cable channel. With the switch to HNN, UH is now “eligible to receive the full Mountain West media rights fee, aligning with the conference” (PACIFIC BUSINESS NEWS, 6/4).
PRIDE MONTH POST: In Raleigh, Jane Sartwell noted the Univ. of North Carolina put a post on its official athletics’ social media page on June 1 to celebrate the start of Pride Month that featured an outline of the state “with the university’s signature argyle pattern running through its center -- but this time in rainbow colors.“ However, the post has since been deleted. A university spokesperson said, “The social post in question was taken down because it violated the UNC System’s Equality Policy, which requires neutrality on political and social issues” (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 6/4).
RECORD NUMBERS: Univ. of Arizona raised a record $46M through the Wildcat Club during the 2025-26 academic year. The previous record was $41M in 2022. The department hit this fundraising milestone alongside more than $87.7M in corporate partnerships secured over the past two quarters alone. The fundraising included 10 gifts of $1M or more (Univ. of Arizona).
