Video technology vendor ANC Sports Enterprises has added a record number of college signage clients since its acquisition by Learfield Sports in February.
The deal has evolved into a new name for Purchase, N.Y.-based ANC, which is now called ANC, A Learfield Company. The Brand Gallery, a Greenwich, Conn., agency, was hired to complete the rebranding process, officials said.
By year’s end, ANC will have completed 20 projects for schools, supplying video software and technology services for new scoreboards, courtside signs and statistical displays. Two deals were for new video screens at Louisville’s baseball and softball venues, plus a new $900,000 board at Fresno State’s football stadium. By comparison, ANC averaged six new college projects a year from 2010 to 2014, company spokesman Michael Hopkins said.
Learfield Sports has multimedia rights deals with more than 100 schools, and has introduced ANC to its clients to help get the company’s foot in the door. The intention is for ANC to build the same long-term relationships Learfield has developed over the years, said Marc Jenkins’ Learfield’s COO.
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One of ANC’s college deals involved a new video board in Taco Bell Arena at Boise State.
Photo by: ANC, A LEARFIELD COMPANY
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In other cases, ANC has won new business on its own, similar to what it did before the merger. Of the 20 deals ANC is involved in this year, five are tied to schools, including Brigham Young, St. Bonaventure and Villanova, where Learfield does not hold multimedia rights.
“We’re still ANC,” said Jerry Cifarelli, the company’s co-founder, president and CEO. “The college market is a tough, competitive space, but now with Learfield and Providence Equity Partners [Learfield’s majority stakeholder] we have something big and powerful behind us. Since we did the deal, they have been unbelievably supportive in their commitment and resources. As a partner and owner, they’re thinking big and it’s given everybody a boost of energy and excitement.”
Over the past year, ANC’s full-time staff has grown by 20 percent. The company now has 81 office employees plus 156 field technicians helping teams and schools run their video control rooms.
As a software provider and integrator, ANC has kept its relationship intact with Lighthouse to produce the hardware for video boards. In addition, ANC has invested in a new factory in China with several other partners that allows it to better customize products and control costs to a greater degree, Cifarelli said. Production of the hardware system, branded as Apex, has been in full operation since January after several test runs.
Outside of sports, ANC has expanded its business into the transportation and retail markets. It recently completed a project at Fulton Center, a major transportation hub with retail outlets in New York where ANC operates and services 53 digital signs running 24/7 inside the facility.
“ANC was already growing into that space and I can’t attribute all that success to Learfield, but they have given us the capital to grow business and structure it to better manage the business,” Cifarelli said. “We couldn’t ask for a better relationship.”
