On Fri, 21 Apr 1995, Greg Sorenson wrote:
 
>
> Here's a hypothetical plan for developing sponsorship for college hockey: The
> four hockey conferences would strike a deal with one or two national
> companies. Each Div. I school with a rink capable of televising a game
> would provide these companies exclusive advertising space along the center-
> ice boards, in exchange for bankrolling a national game-of-the-week broadcast.
> Let's say a board ad at center ice costs $5000 a season (I honestly don't know),
> and let's say there are 40 rinks capable of supporting a broadcast. That's
> $200,000. Get two sponsors involved and you have $400,000, which could probably
> fund the production of four, five games?
>
You are on the right track,  Greg.  The NCAA's take on it has nothing to
do with the situation,  though.  Their opinions and rules are only valid
during the tournament.
 
Actually,  we need to work out sponsorship deals either as a conference
or nationally,  then use the money to buy into ESPN.  For instance,  in
the OHL,  a certain amount of rink boards and program space are reserved
for corporate league sponsors.  The teams each get a take from that
money.  That's the lines I'm thinking along.  Let's start with the egg
(revenue),  then get to the chicken (spending).
 
I'm gathering more info. on how the OHL does the corporate advertising.
The problem is,  as you say, that we have quirks in sponsorship between
schools,  conferences and regions.  I know that Michigan has that huge
Nike contract. Well,  we couldn't do that now that we've signed that
multi-million dollar deal with Reebok.
 
Also,  I would prefer ESPN,  but think that ESPN-2 is just as good.  We
have had ESPN-2 since the start (imagine that!) and it's an excellent
network that is growing.  We have to take the long-term view of where it
will be in five years.  My bet is that it will be on most cable outlets
by then.  It would PROBABLY be cheaper for college hockey to work with
the deuce as well.  We could provide our own production and so forth,
whereas the big E often raises cost by spending more and demanding more
in production.
 
Another thought,  why are we limiting ourselves to ESPN?  Why not talk to
the likes of USA Network?  We did USA Boxing here on a Tuesday night last
summer and they did an excellent job. With the boom in cable networks,
more are likely to get involved in sports.  College Hockey might not be a
capstone to sports but could be cheap and useful.
 
S. Monaghan
LSSU