UPS has reached an agreement with "close to 70 schools and a handful of conferences" that gives it "promotional rights from coast to coast," according to Michael Smith of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. The new deal, valued by sources at between $20-25M annually, "includes many of the top college football programs in the country from IMG College's stable, which features Texas, Michigan, Ohio State, Florida, Georgia, UCLA and others." Smith notes the UPS deal "represents one of the most ambitious plans to stitch together a national program outside of a traditional NCAA corporate sponsorship, and it showcases the growing role of college sports as a viable national platform." This partnership "will put UPS on the ground for college football season with access to signage, TV and radio advertising, game programs, Web advertising, hospitality and tickets." The sponsorship "represents one of the first major wins for IMG College’s new national sales group which has been touting the college space as a viable alternative to other national properties." UPS also is in talks “for sponsorship positions in the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences, with its activation focused on the football championship games for both leagues.” This comes after last week’s annoumcent that MillerCoors did a deal with IMG College and Learfield for 23 schools (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 8/29 issue).
