University of Maryland athletic director Deborah Yow received a four-year contract extension from university President Dan Mote. The contract extension will extend Yow's tenure at Maryland to August 2008.
Yow, one of only a handful of female athletic directors in NCAA Division I, has headed the Maryland athletic department since 1994. Under her leadership, the department has balanced its budget of more than $30 million a year every year since her hire, while also ranking in the top 15 percent of all NCAA Division I programs in its performance on the field. The department had operated at a deficit for 10 consecutive years before her arrival.
Under the new deal, Yow will receive the same annual salary as her current contract, which runs through 2004. That contract pays her $226,000 a year, athletic department officials said.
NEW DEAL AT AUBURN: Auburn University athletics is close to naming its multimedia rights holder for the next several years.
The department, which since 1994 has contracted its marketing rights out to a local group that operates under the name Auburn Network, sent out a request for proposals late last year for athletics marketing rights beginning with the next school year.
The package would deliver rights to develop and sell the Tigers' corporate sponsor program, sell ads for radio and television coaches' shows and develop endorsement opportunities for coaches, Auburn assistant athletic director Marvin Julich said.
New to the package will be an Internet component that includes a relaunch of the department's Web site and advertising sales, he said.
The groups that submitted proposals in addition to Auburn Network were Host Communications Inc., Viacom Outdoor Sports Marketing Inc. (formerly Infinity Sports Marketing) and a joint venture by ISP and Learfield, he said.
Julich said a recommendation for hire has been forwarded to a university decision-making body and an announcement should be made later this month. Julich wouldn't comment on the department's recommendation, but sources close to the deal said the department recommended awarding the rights to the incumbent Auburn Network.
VALLEY PLEDGES ALLEGIANT: Allegiant Bank signed a three-year deal with the Missouri Valley Conference to become the official bank of the league.
As a sponsor of the Valley, St. Louis-based Allegiant will receive promotional rights during conference events, signs in the Savvis Center during the conference's basketball tournament, logo identification in game programs and on the conference's Web site, as well as 30-second spots during the Valley's radio and television game broadcasts.
Allegiant also will handle the conference's banking needs as they relate to management of money collected from NCAA ticket sales and for tournaments hosted by the conference.
Under the contract, Allegiant can launch a credit-card program for the conference and its staffers.
Conference officials wouldn't give the exact value of the deal but said it is worth between $20,000 and $30,000 a year.
Allegiant joins a conference sponsor list that includes State Farm Insurance Cos., Anheuser-Busch, Phillips 66, Graybar, AmerenUE and Emerson.
Jennifer Lee can be reached at jlee@amcity.com.
