Group W Sports Marketing has reached an agreement with the
Capitals and Bullets to "jointly handle advertising sales" of
national and local spots on broadcast and cable TV for all Caps
and Bullets games. The agreement, announced by GSWM Senior VP &
GM Bob Kunath and Capitol Region Sports Marketing President Susan
O'Malley, "marks the first time the Capitals and Bullets have had
an outside sales agency handle its broadcast sales
representation." For the past six years, GWSM has handled
national ad sales for Caps and Bullets games on HTS. On Tuesday,
it was announced that HTS would produce all Caps and Bullets
games, including those aired on new broadcast partner, WFTY-TV in
DC. Kunath, noting their similar deal with the Orioles, said
that GWSM "now handles the full range of television advertising
sales for the region's" MLB, NHL and NBA teams (Group W Sports).
An ADWEEK analysis of the NFL notes that, for the first time,
Group W will sell sponsorships within "Sunday Ticket," the
league's satellite subscription service. Group W has three to
five 30-second spots per game in what would be local avails of
the network feed (John Flinn, ADWEEK, 6/12).
