Joe McGinley, whose son is on the Boston Univ. wrestling team that is set to be cut from BU athletics, said that New Balance "bought" lacrosse's way into the BU athletic program at the expense of wrestling. In Boston, Stan Grossfeld notes New Balance is a "large supplier of lacrosse equipment." McGinley: "We believe the truth is that the board members arranged for New Balance to donate $3 million, that New Balance donated the $3 million, and (BU) brought in men’s lacrosse and they got rid of men’s wrestling. Why they couldn’t just be honest and say that is beyond me." The university "denies that claim." New Balance Field, which will he the home site for the lacrosse team, "virtually doubled the field space on campus and provided a home for the women’s field hockey team" (BOSTON GLOBE, 12/27).
A BIG CHEESE: In Chicago, Lauren Zumbach writes the "Graterhead" -- a cheese grater-shaped hat designed by Bears fan Jeran Dahlquist -- is the "latest craze in Packer Cheesehead-hater fashion." Dahlquist said that about 90% of the couple thousand Graterheads sold since Bears-Packers on Nov. 4 "have gone to Bears fans." He and his business partners, Seth Neal and Dean Donlon, "introduced the Graterhead at the first Bears-Packers game of the regular season." Dahlquist said that their marketing plan was "simple -- splurge on 11th row, 50-yard-line seats, cheer like crazy and hope the TV cameras noticed -- and it worked." They sold 500 Graterheads that day, "despite a website that struggled to keep up with the flood of traffic" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 12/27).
HAVE A DRINK: SFX Entertainment on Monday announced that it has "struck a global marketing partnership with Anheuser-Busch InBev." Stifel Nicolaus analyst Benjamin Mogil estimated that A-B's sponsorship "could be worth as much" as $25M in '14 and $35M in '15, as SFX’ roster of events grows. Terms of the deal were not disclosed (N.Y. TIMES, 12/24).
