Michael Smith

Buffalo Wild Wings, a major advertiser during March Madness, is taking the next step by becoming an NCAA corporate partner. The Minneapolis-based dining chain will have marketing, media and promotional rights to all 89 of the NCAA championships, most notably the men's basketball tournament. The restaurant will be one...

The ACC has formed a committee of athletic directors and hired Wasserman Media Group to explore the financial benefits of launching its own conference network. While its media rights are tied up with ESPN for the next 15 years, that hasn’t stopped the conference from beginning the process...

IMG College has bought the multimedia rights to the University of Mississippi, giving the sports agency rights at 10 of the Southeastern Conference’s 14 universities. Ole Miss’ rights formerly were owned by TeleSouth, a Jackson, Miss.-based company that runs radio networks and stations across the state. IMG College...

Humana has extended and broadened its official marketing partnership with the PGA Tour. Humana, a tour partner since 2005, has had the designation of official health benefits company for the main tour and the Champions Tour. As part of the extension, Humana also will serve as the tour’s...

The Univ. of Colorado has hired IMG Learfield Ticket Solutions to increase attendance and revenues generated from athletic events. The ticketing division that is a joint operation between IMG College and Learfield Sports will set up a sales operation on CU’s campus and sell football and men’s basketball tickets...

It’ll be No. 1 vs. No. 2 when Notre Dame and Alabama meet in the BCS championship game. That’s not only their ranking in the BCS poll, it’s also their ranking in merchandise sales, according to one of the largest online retailers of officially licensed sports gear. ...

■ Which revenue stream offers the most potential for growth? Tickets........................... 35% Sponsorship sales.......... 32% Hospitality sales............ 27% Concessions.................... 3% Merchandise................... 3% Responses: 37 ■ Which revenue stream is tapped out? Merchandise.................. 51% Concessions................... 16% Sponsorship sales........... 14% Tickets............................. 11% Hospitality sales............... 8%...

PGA Tour tournament directors have seen it all: Players locked inside the gates at night because they were fishing; drunk spectators; an earthquake and an approaching hurricane in the same week; runaway golf carts; and all sorts of animals — from bears to gators — making tracks across the...

■ What other PGA Tour event do you admire the most? The Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte received the most mentions (7), followed by the Waste Management Phoenix Open and the Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla....

■ Name an area where the PGA Tour excels in helping tournaments: — New initiative by the tour to objectively analyze sales efforts and action steps for improvement. — Player involvement. Their program that allows us to have...