The IHL and The Marquee Group have partnered to promote
the league to potential sponsors on a national basis. The
Marquee Group will serve as a sales representative on behalf
of the IHL, securing advertising sponsorships for the
various inventory controlled by the league, including
commercial inventory for IHL national TV games on Fox Sports
Net; league marketing rights, logos and marks; All-Star Game
opportunities; Official Product status; and local team
sponsorship opportunities (The Marquee Group).
SONY SETS SAIL: In other IHL news, SGB's Andy Bernstein
reports that the league will take its licensing operation
"in-house -- a transition which is already underway," ending
its "barely" two-year-old relationship with Sony Signatures.
Bernstein notes that "insiders" say that Sony will still
"bear some minimum royalty obligation" to the IHL.
Projecting over $1B in world-wide sales for the '98 World
Cup, and also running the ATP Tour's licensing operation,
Sony found it was no longer "a good fit with the IHL and its
less than" $20M annual merchandise business. Bernstein adds
that during Sony's first year of administering IHL licensing
rights, the league "totaled a record" $24M in sales. But a
"decline of around" 25% followed, "prompting both the league
and Sony to rethink the arrangement" (SGB, 12/15 issue).
SONY SACKED: In TENNIS WEEK, Richard Evans criticizes
Sony Signatures' licensing initiatives for the ATP Tour: "It
is not simply a question of doing a bad job but of doing no
job at all. For the sum total of Sony Signatures' work in
the past year to have been the signing of a racquet contract
for the ATP Tour with Spalding is a joke. And a pretty sad
one at that" (Richard Evans, TENNIS WORLD, 12/18 issue).
