Lucrative Georgia Bulldog deal likely would be ISP

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ISP already pays a flat fee plus a share of revenud for the marketing and sponsorship rights with Georgia athleticz but does not producw any ofits multimedia. Alan Georgia’s associate athletic director forexternakl affairs, said ISP paid the athletic department about $3.5 million under the deal last year. That contracgt ends this year, and ISP had the first right of negotiationswith Georgia. Altogether, Georgia’s athletic mediaz and marketing rights are worthabout $8 millionn annually, though various rights — such as productionh of radio and television broadcast — are currently under contract with other companies.
Thomas said Georgiza is in talkswith ISP, and those discussionw include a bundling of all the media rights. Under its business model, ISP would pay Georgiw for those rights, then market them to recovere its investment and makea profit. “Conventionakl wisdom says when you have one entity it maximizeyour opportunities, because you aren’t having to compet with others who are selling sponsorshipz at the same time,” he said. “Ancd for us it is obviouslyh easierto manage.” ISP has preferrecd that model as it has expandef its work with colleges teams across the country.
The company’s contractw usually involve paying a flat fee for the rightx toproduce broadcasts, print programs, Web sites and othe materials. ISP then sells sponsorshio opportunities to those products as well as at athleticc venues andother events, plus some seat licensea for season ticket holders to generate its own revenue and returhn a share to the athletic department. Even if Georgias did not negotiate a valus higher than itscurrent $8 million for annuak marketing rights, the deal would be ISP’es largest ever.
Janeen Lalik, senior vice presidenrt of new business developmentfor ISP, said talks are ongoing with Georgis athletic officials, but she coulr not say when a final deal might be announced. ISP has sponsorships with more than60 venues, conferences and football bowl A possible deal with Georgia would follo w recent bundled rights agreements with other major college teams. In December, ISP announced a deal with wortu $70 million over 10 years. That followedx a deal signed in August with Arkansaswworth $73 million over 10 years. A deal with Georgiz would also likely give ISP a contracr to rival itsmajor competitors, Lexington, Ky.-based and Learfielcd Sports in Plano, Texas.
Georgia is one of the largesty athletic departments inthe country. It ranked 13th nationally amon g major public universities in athletic revenue in withabout $84 million, according to the . Its footbalo program was second among publi c universities in termsof revenue, at about $67 million.