In which I applaud UB’s newly-announced “Bricks for Bulls” campaign

Commemorative Bricks. They’re gonna be big.

In case you missed it in your email inboxes, on Twitter, or Facebook today, UB has announced a new fundraising opportunity. Personalized bricks outside an athletics facility isn’t a novel idea, nor is it one that necessarily I’ve been waiting years to see, but it’s one that with the announcement of the “Bricks for Bulls” campaign, I can do nothing but applaud. The timing, to coincide with the construction of the Murchie Fieldhouse, makes sense, and there’s little downside at all. This coming from someone who panned “Horns Up” when it was first introduced.

Plenty of schools have done this before and it’s a great way to get a little more buy-in from your fans. My investment has waxed and waned in the last year and a half-ish, but the hoops season tickets my family maintains keeps me from ever cutting the cord completely, and the inevitable brick I buy will do the same.

Four brick sizes make for an option regardless of your budget -- though I’d love to see something cheaper than $125, I understand if a brick isn’t profitable below that, and $125 doesn’t feel horrible to me — as there’s 4”x8” and 8”x8” text-only options, and 8”x8” and 12”x12” options with logo headers.

While redditors among us must be aware of /r/CFB’s ongoing quest to get a brick placed at every school in the country, alas the wiggle room isn’t that significant for what I’ll call particularly fun options:

“16 characters allowed per line. Characters include all letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and blank spaces found on a standard English keyboard. Inscriptions will be automatically centered and engraved in uppercase letters. Inscriptions that contain websites, phone numbers, twitter handles, and/or manifestos are not permitted. Discriminatory, political, offensive or inappropriate messages as determined by University at Buffalo will be declined.”

The one question I have left unanswered is how long the promotion will be ongoing — UB says there are a limited number available, but in theory a very large number is still limited by the size of Stampede Square. Still, if you’re interested, it’s probably worth jumping on sooner rather than later.