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October 10, 2008

Making money from OU-Texas

Rivalry fuels entrepreneurial venture by students

By Julianna Parker

Two students from the Universities of Oklahoma and Texas are trying to capitalize on the rivalry this weekend.

In an effort to make some money for college, OU freshman Benjamin Lancaster and UT sophomore Jonathan Johnston launched OUorTexas.com. Visitors can "vote" for their favorite team by donating a dollar to the student of their choice.

Lancaster got the idea when a guest speaker came to his journalism class and talked about people making money off social networking sites.

He decided he wanted a piece of that pie.

"If there's money to be made on the Internet, I wanted it too," he said.

So he enlisted his high school friend from Dallas to join with him. Johnston said he was game, so the young men e-mailed and Facebook messaged their friends and family to vote for them online.

Texas was winning as of Thursday evening: $171 to $154. The money goes to each student through Pay Pal.

"Right now I'm winning, so it's pretty fun to dog on him," Johnston said. Most of those donations, however, came from the first few days after the site was launched Oct. 2.

"I kind of expected it to pick up a little more these last couple days," Johnston said.

Voting probably will increase this weekend with more publicity, said Lancaster's dad, Ken Lancaster of Dallas. He helped his son put up the Web site and sent e-mails to members of the media in Texas and Oklahoma.

"I own an ad agency, so I know how to get the word out," the elder Lancaster said. Because he helps his son pay for college, Lancaster said he has a stake in the project.

"I think it's really creative and a lot of fun, and I hope it works," he said.

His son said no matter how much money they raise, the experience has taught him a lot about business and marketing. It'd be nice to get more money, Lancaster said, but he's satisfied for now.

"I'll take what I can get right now at least."

Julianna Parker 366-3541 jparker@normantranscript.com

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