Deion Sanders named Sports Illustrated’s 2023 Sports Person of the Year
Hall of Famers
Published on : 11/30/2023
In less than a year, DEION SANDERS, or “Coach Prime,” not only has transformed a moribund Colorado University football program, but he also has breathed fresh life into the campus and transformed a community.
For many reasons, Sports Illustrated has named Sanders the 2023 Sports Person of the Year.
According to the SI report, many numbers define the “Prime Effect” upon the University of Colorado, a place that hasn’t always had a chummy relationship with football. First-year applications are up 26.4% year over year; Black or African American applications are up 80.6%; nonresident applications are up 29.8%; and international applications are up 38.4% from 97 countries, including 16 that didn’t have any applications last year.
While those numbers cannot be linked to Sanders definitively, others can be: September sales at the school’s online team store were up 2,544% over the same month in 2022. Every home game in 50,183-seat Folsom Field was sold out for the first time in school history.
The marketing of the Buffaloes began soon after Sanders arrived in Boulder for his introduction as coach on Dec. 4, 2022. A production crew from the Amazon series “Coach Prime” followed him, just as it had documented his tenure at Jackson State, where he went 27-6 in three seasons and won new fans. But a Power 5 conference coaching job was the goal, and with it came new levels of competition and exposure — two of the central themes of Sanders’ life.
“I trust him,” Colorado Athletic Director Rick George said. “He feels this is his calling.”
Sanders’ NFL greatness was immortalized in 2011, when he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
To read more details on the 2023 Sportsperson of the Year, click here for the full SI article.
For many reasons, Sports Illustrated has named Sanders the 2023 Sports Person of the Year.
According to the SI report, many numbers define the “Prime Effect” upon the University of Colorado, a place that hasn’t always had a chummy relationship with football. First-year applications are up 26.4% year over year; Black or African American applications are up 80.6%; nonresident applications are up 29.8%; and international applications are up 38.4% from 97 countries, including 16 that didn’t have any applications last year.
While those numbers cannot be linked to Sanders definitively, others can be: September sales at the school’s online team store were up 2,544% over the same month in 2022. Every home game in 50,183-seat Folsom Field was sold out for the first time in school history.
The marketing of the Buffaloes began soon after Sanders arrived in Boulder for his introduction as coach on Dec. 4, 2022. A production crew from the Amazon series “Coach Prime” followed him, just as it had documented his tenure at Jackson State, where he went 27-6 in three seasons and won new fans. But a Power 5 conference coaching job was the goal, and with it came new levels of competition and exposure — two of the central themes of Sanders’ life.
“I trust him,” Colorado Athletic Director Rick George said. “He feels this is his calling.”
Sanders’ NFL greatness was immortalized in 2011, when he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
To read more details on the 2023 Sportsperson of the Year, click here for the full SI article.
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