Collegiate Marketer Continues to Stamp Name on Prestigious Athletic Award
Orlando, FL (June 17, 2011) – Learfield Sports, USA Today and the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) announced today, at Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup Luncheon presented by the United States Olympic Committee, that the collegiate marketer will continue its title partnership of the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup for the next five years.
In addition to the renewal of the partnership, Learfield Sports and NACDA announced a new logo for the Directors’ Cup.
For nearly two decades, the Directors’ Cup has been widely recognized as the mark of distinction among the nation’s collegiate athletic departments through a point system that awards a respective institution based on its national finish in an NCAA or NAIA championship. USA Today and NACDA co-founded the prestigious award in 1993, and it continues to be the only award sanctioned by collegiate athletic directors and that recognizes superior performance across all men’s and women’s sports.
“The Directors’ Cup exemplifies excellence in collegiate athletics, and we’re certainly proud to associate our brand with the preeminent award that is deeply embedded into the fabric of our industry,” said Greg Brown, Learfield’s president and chief executive officer. “We’ve enjoyed working closely with USA Today, as well as with Mike Cleary, Bob Vecchione and all of the key individuals associated with NACDA. We are proud to be a part of a first-class team that presents what has become the benchmark for overall athletic department success.”
Learfield Sports has been in the collegiate marketplace since 1975 when it began handling the radio rights for the University of Missouri. The operating unit of Learfield Communications, Inc. now manages the multimedia rights for more than 50 collegiate institutions, conferences and associations, including the Big Ten Conference, Missouri Valley Conference, Penn State, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Alabama, Colorado, Texas A&M, Indiana, Miami (Fla.), Stanford, Boise State and the Black Coaches & Administrators (BCA).
Each year there are four respective all-sports champions receiving the top Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup honor in NCAA Divisions I, II and III and the NAIA. The winner in each division receives a crystal trophy and is recognized at NACDA’s Annual Convention each June. The winning institutions for the 2010-11 athletics season were Stanford in Division I, Grand Valley State (Mich.) in Division II, Williams (Mass.) in Division III and Azusa Pacific (Calif.) in the NAIA. Learfield Sports first partnered on the award during the 2008-09 season.
“As the Directors’ Cup has become a prominent benchmark for intercollegiate athletics programs, NACDA looks forward to its continued relationship with Learfield Sports as the title sponsor,” stated NACDA President Dave Roach, director of athletics at Colgate University. “Learfield Sports has brought added exposure to the Directors’ Cup on the national level and we look forward to maintaining that momentum moving forward.”
For current award updates and other information, visit directorscup.org, thedirectorscup.com, like us on Facebook at facebook.com/lsdirectorscup or follow us on Twitter @lsdirectorscup.
NACDA, now in its 46th year, is the professional and educational association for more than 6,500 college athletics administrators at more than 1,600 institutions throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. More than 2,400 athletics administrators annually attend the NACDA Convention. Additionally, NACDA administers 11 professional associations for the separate business units that report directly to the athletics directors.
Posted on Friday, June 17, 2011