Learfield Sports, a portfolio company of Providence Equity Partners, has acquired Nelligan Sports Marketing. Providence acquired Learfield Sports from Shamrock Capital in September 2013.
Nelligan Sports Marketing (NSM) is a collegiate sports multimedia rights and marketing company with 41 collegiate properties in its portfolio including the University of Louisville, Colorado State University, and Marquette University, among many others. Nelligan Sports Marketing was founded by TJ Nelligan in 1999 and currently has 85 full time employees. The company is based in Little Falls, NJ (www.nelligansports.com).
“This transaction is a strategic move for our company, substantially expanding our platform of college rights,” said Greg Brown, president and CEO of Learfield. “Adding the rights that TJ Nelligan and his colleagues have acquired over the years will strengthen our position in certain regions where we already have significant sponsorship rights. We will be integrating the operations from NSM immediately, and we plan to grow the base of business.”
Learfield Sports is a collegiate sports multimedia rights and marketing company. The company owns the multimedia rights to 56 college athletic programs, conferences and athletic venues including the University of Alabama, University of North Carolina, and Purdue University, among many others. The company was founded in 1972 and currently has 380 full time employees. In addition to its core multimedia rights business, Learfield Sports has a collegiate ticket sales joint venture with IMG College, IMG Learfield Ticket Solutions, and also works with Levy Restaurants to provide colleges with concessions services. Learfield’s sports programming reaches more than 56 million television households nationally and delivers nearly 17,000 hours of radio programming on more than 1,100 radio stations. Learfield Sports is based in Plano, TX (www.learfieldsports.com).
Providence Equity Partners invests in the media, entertainment, communications and information industries and has approximately $28 billion of capital under management. The firm was founded in 1989 and is based in Providence with additional offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Hong Kong, and New Delhi (www.provequity.com).
© 2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 2-5-14