The Syracuse athletic department yesterday “signed a new contract with IMG that covers both broadcasting and multimedia rights,” according to Chris Carlson of the Syracuse POST-STANDARD. The school in a release said that IMG “will sell corporate sponsorships and market other assets of the athletic department including certain digital entities, Carrier Dome signage and in-game promotions.” IMG also will “continue to manage radio broadcasts and coaches’ shows.” Terms and length of the deal with IMG were not released, but Syracuse’s deal “would likely be valued somewhere close” to Rutgers ($5.9M) and UConn ($8.0M), as both of those schools are in the Northeast, with “one claiming a share of the New York media market and the other owning a marquee basketball program like the Orange.” Rutgers “was making just more than half that number” ($3.07M) under its previous deal, which was signed in ’02. IMG has handled Syracuse’s multimedia and broadcast rights since ’99 (Syracuse POST-STANDARD, 8/20).
THE NEXT STEP: SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Michael Smith conducted a Q&A with IMG College President & Chair Ben Sutton, where he discussed the Syracuse negotiations, as well as "developing ... new lines of business," working with "his new direct report, WME co-chair Patrick Whitesell" and the recent loss of Kentucky’s multimedia rights (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 8/18 issue).
