Syracuse athletics "has grown immensely as a commercial enterprise" through its deal with IMG College, and the pact also "has changed" the school's relationship with local firms, according to Dave Tobin of the Syracuse POST-STANDARD. SU's deal with Crouse Sports Medicine -- brokered by IMG in '12 -- "gave Crouse exclusive hospital marketing privileges for all things related to SU sports." That means no Upstate Univ. Hospital signs "anywhere" in the Carrier Dome -- including outside a first-aid room in the venue's lower concourse that has Upstate doctors inside. Upstate Emergency Medicine President Dr. Gary Johnson "would not say how much the contract is worth or how long it is for." The exclusive deal for Crouse "affects more than advertising in the dome," as before the deal, Upstate "could create an ad with Jim Boeheim, and refer to him as SU's men's basketball coach." Now, in any Upstate ads in which Boeheim appears, he "can only be identified as Jim Boeheim" and "can't be wearing a SU shirt, or holding a basketball with a SU emblem, or be seen in any environment connected to SU." Meanwhile, e-mails between Upstate and IMG obtained through a FOIA request "refer to a pending Crouse/IMG deal that would last five years and cost at least $400,000 a year." Crouse VP/Communications & Gov't Affairs Bob Allen said that the existing contract "is for three years and 'not even in that vicinity.'" SU Exec Senior Associate AD & Chief Communications Officer/External Affairs Joe Giansante said that IMG's multimedia rights contract with the school "extends through" the '20-21 school year. The deal originally started in '99 with ISP, who was acquired by IMG College years later (Syracuse POST-STANDARD, 2/16).
