Sports industry veteran HARVEY SCHILLER has taken an equity position in Collegiate Sports Management Group and will lead the initial funding round for the third-party sponsorship sales and media-rights company. “As a former conference commissioner (SEC), I’m really in love with the college world and see this as a unique opportunity,” said Schiller, who served on CSMG’s advisory board for around a year before investing in the agency. “It's really an opportunity to build something special.” Without revealing how large an investment he made, Schiller said it was “enough to make a difference.” CSMG, founded in '14 by media and property marketers MICHAEL SCHRECK and RAY KATZ, specializes in smaller colleges, universities, and athletic conferences. Over the past two years, it has signed deals bringing the aggregate audience of its college network to more than 1.5 million students and 7 million alumni. That includes the Colonial Athletic Association, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, Univ. of Delaware and six D-II conferences. In addition to having been SEC Commissioner, Schiller is a founder of YES Network, a former President of Turner Sports and a former USOC Exec Dir.
