UNR sports marketing put into hands of partnership

Jim Bauserman had understandable misgivings when the University of Nevada, Reno, athletic department suggested a contract with a national sports marketing company to focus on signage and television deals.

After all, The Bauserman Group previously had exclusive management of marketing of UNR athletics through the company's Seismic Events subsidiary.

UNR executives, however, wanted to bring in Dallas-based Learfield Sports to take on a portion of the work.

"Partnerships are always difficult," Bauserman said last week. "But they turned out to be a great group of people very dynamic."

A key to the deal is the contacts that Learfield Communications has with national sponsors.

The company, which got its start buying the radio rights for University of Missouri games in the mid-1970s, today manages multimedia rights for 34 colleges. Among them are four other schools Idaho, Fresno State, San Jose State and Utah State in the Western Athletic Conference that UNR calls home.

Bauserman said Seismic Events brings knowledge of the northern Nevada market and UNR to the newly created partnership. The company has worked since 2003 in the marketing of UNR athletics, and last year stepped up its game-day promotions during football games.

Cary Groth, UNR's athletic director, said the combination promises to work well.

"This is the best of both worlds for us," she said. "We now have the marketing and event skills of Seismic Events with the national-level experience and contacts of Learfield Sports."

A Learfield subsidiary, meanwhile, specializes in marketing research and sales consultation in the sports marketing industry.

Bauserman said those resources will provide greater depth to the services provided by Seismic Events.