After 33 years of broadcasting Bears’ basketball and football games, Springfield-based Meyer Communications Inc. owner and founder Ken Meyer said its radio broadcasting relationship with Missouri State University could end at the close of the 2012–13 season.
Meyer Communications is currently operating under a five-year contract with MSU to broadcast Bears’ basketball and football games. MSU Athletic Director Kyle Moats said Meyer Communications pays $5,000 per game for the basketball and football rights, putting the total value of the contract at about $200,000 per year.
In addition, the company broadcasts 60 games per year in other sports such as baseball and softball, but those contract terms were not available by press time.
That relationship is likely to change after the 2012–13 season, Meyer said, when a New Jersey-based sports marketing firm will help MSU get the most bang for its radio buck.
Moats said the school has been working with Nelligan Sports Marketing since July 2010, and the company has been selling television advertising since the fall of that year when KY3 began airing men’s and women’s basketball games.
According to MissouriStateBears.com, the Little Falls, N.J.-based firm signed a seven-year contract with the school through which it paid MSU $210,000 in the first year and agreed to increase that amount by at least $10,000 each consecutive year to represent the university’s athletic broadcast media rights, marketing and sponsorship programs. The deal covers the school’s marketing expenses and at least the projected revenue MSU was generating through its athletic marketing, the website said.
Moats said Nelligan Sports would act as an adviser when MSU issues requests for proposal by April for the next five-year radio contract.
“We will put it out for bid. That is standard operating procedure,” Moats said. “We certainly hope and expect Mr. Meyer to bid on that, like he has done before. It will be a competitive process.”
Under KY3’s TV agreement, Nelligan Sports sells advertising for games and MSU pays a fee for programming and production. Moats said the annual production costs amount to $276,000, including network distribution of 17 men’s and women’s games in addition to the weekly coaches’ shows, game advertising and promotional spots.
“They are great partners,” KY3 General Manager Brian McDonough said of MSU and Nelligan Sports, adding the station plans to pursue a contract renewal when its four-year deal ends in 2014.
He said he wasn’t troubled that Nelligan Sports held the right to sell advertising on KY3.
“It’s their ads, not mine,” he said.
Meyer, however, said Nelligan Sports is taking away his advertisers, and he’s not sure if he’ll pursue a contract for radio rights with the school. He feels betrayed that through Nelligan Sports, MSU has converted some of its radio advertisers to television, citing Chevrolet Dealers of the Ozarks and Mercy. Mercy spokeswoman Sonya Kullmann said the hospital had a TV contract through Nelligan Sports, but she could not confirm a radio deal with Meyer Communications.
“I’ve lost money since Nelligan came in here; I’ve lost money for three straight years on the Bears,” Meyer said, declining to disclose estimates. “I’ve done it so long, I’m sorry to lose (the contract), but I’m not going to be a servant to a New York stock broker.”
Nelligan Sports founder T.J. Nelligan spent seven years on Wall Street selling for the likes of Merrill Lynch and Shearson Lehman Bros., according to NelliganSports.com. The firm maintains similar broadcasting contracts with such schools as Princeton, West Virginia and Rutgers.
Under MSU’s agreement, Nelligan Sports keeps an office on campus managed by Frank Cuervo.
Cuervo said he manages a staff of three out of Hammons Student Center and often also works with students in the marketing department. With the end of the Meyer basketball and football contract in June, he’ll be working with Moats and the athletics department to maximize revenue potential for the university and determine if Cuervo’s staff would sell advertising for radio spots.
“Now that this radio rights contract is coming to an end, those rights do come under the purview of (the MSU-Nelligan Sports) agreement,” Cuervo said. “There are multiple models to look at in terms of administering a radio program.
“As we go through discussions and sort through what the overall marketplace looks like, we’ll come to a mutual understanding of what is in the best interest of the university.”
Cuervo described Nelligan Sports as a third-party partner with MSU that does much more than help shop radio rights.
“We basically represent the multimedia and sponsorship rights for Missouri State athletics as a whole,” he said.
“When you walk into JQH Arena and you see signage or, during a game, when there is a promotional contest on the floor, those are endeavors that are initiated under our agreement.”
Cuervo said Nelligan Sports and MSU have a deep respect for Meyer and both hope the relationship can continue.
“That has been an incredibly long-standing relationship; I’m sure it is one of the longest-standing relationships between a radio group and a university anywhere, not just in the region, but in the entire college sports’ landscape,” Cuervo said.
“In terms of moving forward, now that the contract is entering its final six months, we’ll take a look at the full field and work cooperatively with the university to find the best opportunity to not only promote the university (but also) to generate and maximize revenues.
“We certainly anticipate that Meyer Communications would be part of that process,” he added.
MSU games air on Meyer stations KTXR 101.3 FM and The Jock 98.7-FM.
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