Just Buzzing Around: Georgia Tech, ISP Reach 10-Year Extension

Tech Will Receive $50M For Extended Deal, ISP Gets Tech's Radio, TV And Internet Rights

Georgia Tech (GT) "will maintain its relationship" with North Carolina-based marketing firm Int'l Sports Properties (ISP), as the school's athletic department and ISP agreed to a 10-year extension worth nearly $50M, according to Ken Sugiura of the ATLANTA CONSTITUTION. The deal "begins immediately." ISP "receives Tech's radio, television and Internet rights, among other properties." GT Associate AD Wayne Hogan said the school's first deal with ISP, which began in '00, was worth about $2.1M annually. GT's annual athletics department budget is about $52M. Sugiura reports the school "will enter into a revenue-sharing deal with ISP, meaning that Tech will split the income ISP earns through selling scoreboard ads, sponsorships and the like." The school's agreement with ISP is "unusual because the revenue sharing begins from the first dollar." Hogan said that in other deals ISP has made, the company "shares money with the school or conference after it has cleared a certain revenue benchmark." Meanwhile, Sugiura notes GT yesterday publicly announced a new sponsorship with Coca-Cola in which the athletic department "will receive $5.94[M] over 13 years, a slight increase from the previous contract." GT also confirmed its new agreement with WYAY-FM, which has a "stronger signal than flagship station" WQXI-AM, and will "simulcast football and men's basketball games and coaches' shows" (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 1/22).