IMG College officials said the company's first football season as multimedia partners with West Virginia Univ.'s athletics program "surpassed expectations," according to Jared Hunt of the CHARLESTON DAILY MAIL. In addition to "meeting the challenge of building out a statewide radio affiliate network and an expanded slate of gameday programming in less than four weeks ... they were able to surpass financial goals." IMG College Regional VP/East Region Rex Hough projected that the company, based on numbers through mid-December, would "beat its sales goal" for the '13 football season by 22-25%. Hough: "At a startup property, that is off the charts." IMG College's contract with WVU "guarantees IMG will pay WVU" at least $86.5M through '25. The deal "had been idled for more than seven months" after one of IMG College's competitors, West Virginia Radio Corp., "lodged complaints" about the bidding process. This meant IMG officials "had to wait until July to begin the partnership." Hough said that IMG is "focused on bringing in more national companies" as WVU sponsors. The company "was already able to bring" UPS on board. IMG's contract with WVU also "calls for the university to invest" $2.5M in capital improvements at sports facilities that also can "be used for marketing opportunities." WVU is "in the process of negotiating exactly what those improvements will be, and announcements are expected in the coming months" (CHARLESTON DAILY MAIL, 1/7).
