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ECU reaches wide-ranging deal with ISP Sports
From staff reports and an
ECU Athletics release.
East Carolina's athletic department has secured itself an annual rights fee
and expects to see a boost in the marketing of its multimedia properties
with the inking of a significant pact with ISP Sports.
The Winston-Salem company, which bills itself as "America's leader in the
collegiate sports marketing arena," will gain exclusive rights to an
extensive array of mediums associated with ECU athletics when the agreement
goes into effect this coming July 1, the school indicated in a Tuesday press
release.
"This agreement signals a new day in ECU Athletics and provides us with
opportunities that we have not had before," ECU athletic director Terry
Holland said in a statement. "I have the highest personal and professional
respect for Ben Sutton and the team he has built at ISP."
Sutton is the president and chairman of the board of ISP Sports, which is
already aligned with the athletics programs of 27 other schools, including
Conference USA members Central Florida, Houston, Marshall, Southern
Mississippi, Tulane and UAB.
"... There has always been tremendous enthusiasm and support surrounding
Pirate Athletics, and now with the leadership of Terry Holland and the
administrative team he is building, the future of the overall program is
extremely bright," state Sutton. "We are excited to be a part of that
future."
Other programs of regional interest with ties to ISP include Alabama,
Auburn, Clemson, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Miami, South Carolina, Vanderbilt,
Virginia Tech and Wake Forest, according to the company's Website (ispsports.com).
Key points of the new ECU-ISP Sports arrangement:
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Guarantees the university
an annual rights fee plus additional considerations based upon revenue
generated by ISP.
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Encompasses all sales and
marketing opportunities associated with ECU sports, including radio and
television programming, game programs and other athletics publications,
signage in all campus athletic venues, and at-event corporate promotions
and hospitality functions.
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A three-person marketing
staff with offices at the university will be responsible for sales under
the partnership. The group will be headed by Meghan Molnar, former
general manager of the ISP sales team at Vanderbilt. She will be joined
by Craig Curtis, current assistant athletics director for marketing at
ECU, and a third person to be named later.
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The agreement calls for
the creation of a director of external operations position within the
athletics department, a job that will be funded by the ISP agreement.
That person will oversee the development of the new relationship and
coordinate activities involving ISP Sports with areas such as
fund-raising, ticketing, media relations and promotions.
"... The partnership greatly
increases the focus on the marketing of ECU and ECU Athletics since the ISP
agreement will provide the funding for five total positions," stated
Holland.
Holland indicated that — in
addition to the three-person ISP marketing staff and the new director of
external operations — the position of Jeff Charles will also be funded under
the agreement. Charles is the longtime 'Voice of the Pirates.'
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02/23/2007 11:43:06 AM |
