PLANO, Texas – Learfield Sports continues to build out its portfolio of collegiate sports rights with the acquisition of Front Row Marketing Services’ collegiate multimedia rights properties from Comcast Spectacor, as announced today by Learfield President and CEO Greg Brown.

“We are pleased to welcome these properties to the Learfield family,” said Brown. “Collegiate multimedia rights are the core of our company and so opportunities like this will always be of interest to us, because of what we believe we can offer the schools and our new team members.”

Upon closing of the transaction, the terms of which are confidential, all of the employees of Front Row Marketing Services’ collegiate business became employees of Learfield. There are no staff changes planned. Front Row Marketing Services’ regional executives Nino Vanin and Keith Bradshaw will continue to lead these businesses and will report to Learfield Senior Vice President Steve Gowan.

The Front Row Marketing Services name will no longer be used in connection with the college multimedia rights business. That business will now operate under the Learfield Sports banner and will benefit from sales representation by Learfield’s national sponsorship team. Roughly half of the businesses in this transaction will not be totally new to Learfield, as they are affiliated with other services within Learfield, including Learfield Licensing Partners and SIDEARM Sports.

The new Learfield partnerships are James Madison University, Drexel University, University of Alaska Anchorage, St. Cloud State University, George Mason University, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, Fordham University, University of California Irvine, Colonial Athletic Association, University of North Dakota and Radford University.

“We are grateful to Comcast Spectacor for working with us to close this transaction, and we look forward to serving the schools and conference partners and associates that are now a part of our family,” added Brown.Front Row Marketing Services’ venue sponsorship business is not affected by the transaction with Learfield. In April 2015, Comcast Spectacor announced it was merging Front Row Marketing Services’ business into Global Spectrum, the venue management company. Now as a result of Comcast Spectcor’s June 2, 2015 announcement that its Global Spectrum, Ovations Food Services and Paciolan companies would be rebranded as Spectra, the venue sponsorship business will continue on as part of the Spectra Venue Management division.

Comcast-Spectacor-LogoComcast Spectacor is part of Comcast Corporation, a Fortune 50 media and technology company that operates Comcast Cable and NBCUniversal. Headquartered in Philadelphia, PA, Comcast Spectacor owns and operates the National Hockey League’s Philadelphia Flyers, the Wells Fargo Center venue, and Spectra, the expert in hosting and entertainment through its Venue Management, Food Services & Hospitality, and Ticketing & Fan Engagement divisions.

Learfield Sports manages the multimedia rights for more than 100 collegiate properties, and its rich history includes four decades of developing trusted, long-term relationships with some of the most revered institutions and associations in the world of college sports. The company has prominence in all of the major conferences and titles the prestigious Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup with award co-founders NACDA and USA Today. Learfield represents collegiate institutions, conferences and arenas for their respective multimedia rights and sponsorship initiatives, and offers these partners with professional concessions and ticket sales, licensing and trademark consulting, digital platform expertise and venue signage and technology systems through its owned companies. To learn more about Learfield’s history, businesses and job opportunities, visit www.learfieldsports.com.