News

NSC and POWERade partner on two NCCS events

Multi-year agreement for Flag Football and Basketball Championships will bring a host of benefits to schools, participants, and NIRSA. Plus, Champion Apparel announced as a presenting sponsor of the 2008 NCCS Basketball Championships.

The NIRSA Services Corporation and POWERade, a brand of Coca-Cola, have reached a multi-year sponsorship agreement for our National Campus Championship Series (NCCS) Flag Football and Basketball Championships. The agreement begins with the 2008 NCCS Regional and National Basketball Championships and will continue through the 2010 NCCS Regional and National Flag Football Championships. We are also excited about multiple internet and broadcasting opportunities available through POWERade partner CSTV, a CBS company.

"Intramural athletes take their competition as seriously as pro and collegiate athletes do, so we're excited to partner up with some great organizations to give them an opportunity to chase similar aspirations," said Matt Kahn, vice president of marketing for POWERade. "That means championships...and school bragging rights, of course."

Throughout the three-year multimedia deal, CSTV will create a student user-generated website maintained by a campus rep force on select campuses. In addition, CSTV expects to broadcast some NCCS Championships and invitational tournaments through multiple media platforms.

"This is a landmark initiative for NIRSA," said NIRSA Executive Director Dr. Kent J. Blumenthal. "It's the first major sponsorship agreement reached through the NSC's partnering with Hyperlife Marketing Group, and is an important strategic step in building our successful sports marketing business. Even more importantly, the benefits extend well beyond flag football and basketball. All NIRSA Members, whether they participate in NCCS events or not, are going to reap the benefits of making them world-class. Professional development, continuing education, research, publications -- all these things are supported when companies like POWERade recognize the quality and passion of NIRSA and want to be a part of it."

Adding to our excitement about having POWERade as the title sponsor of the 2008 NCCS Regional and National Basketball Championships (see related story), we are pleased to announce Champion Apparel as a presenting sponsor for that program. Student players can get free customized jerseys, and all NIRSA Members will have access to Champion apparel at wholesale prices. Look for more details on these benefits soon.

We want you to know that this is merely the tip of the iceberg and that many more opportunities for the membership are on the way. Most importantly, we want you to know that all of our programs are driven by the principle more for you, less from you:

• More relevant sponsors. Our number one focus is to secure sponsors who have a logical and direct connection to sports and recreation and who can enhance the student experience with their products.
• More high quality premiums. There's nothing wrong with T-shirts, but we think we can do even better with higher quality premiums in support of your efforts and also for your staff.
• More trust. All school incentive payments are fully backed by NIRSA. You'll never have to worry about whether or not you will be paid or only paid a portion of what you were promised.
• More support. We work with our sponsors to provide on-campus support of key sponsor efforts.
• More for the NIRSA membership. Profits from these programs are reinvested back into NIRSA and NSC, and they help support professional development and other key NIRSA Member benefits. When you support NIRSA endorsed programs, you are ultimately supporting yourself.
• Less work. We limit each program to one title sponsor and two presenting sponsors. This reduces your workload while providing more value to each sponsor.

This first program is a small but important step towards providing a plethora of programs intended to involve a significant number of NIRSA schools in the future. We appreciate your support for our sponsorship initiatives and welcome your feedback.