For five years, Ball State University outsourced its marketing to Nelligan Sports Marketing, Inc. After this school year that will change.
In a press conference Tuesday, Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Tom Collins announced Ball State will not extend its contract with Nelligan Sports but rather do its marketing in-house.
The announcement took Nelligan Sports Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, T.J. Nelligan, by surprise.
"After [the 2007 NCAA Men's] Final Four, Tom Collins and I talked about what a fantastic job we were doing," Nelligan said. "We had generated $4 million, up 400 percent from annual bases. We were told we would get an extension and then we got a letter saying they will be moving in-house."
Fourteen other schools across the country, including the Mid-American Conference's Eastern Michigan University, and three conferences, the Colonial Athletic Association, Horizon League and PAC 10, use Nelligan Sports to help their marketing.
Nelligan said his company has done a "first-class job" for Ball State.
While Collins acknowledged Nelligan Sports is doing a good job, he said the university can be more effective by selling Cardinal Varsity Club, tickets, radio, promotions and any other sponsorships together.
"I want to be able to sell all that stuff at once and not have one group responsible for selling other things," Collins said. "I think it just makes sense for where we're at in this market place to sell everything."
Selling everything on its own isn't new to Ball State. Prior to hiring Nelligan Sports, Ball State ran the marketing department by itself.
Collins said it came down to a philosophical decision in how he wanted his department structured. He said he thinks it will work better when sponsors don't have to deal with multiple people.
"Part of my goal here is when people are going out and selling, they can sell not only tickets, they can sell the marketing, radio, promotions," he said. "We can sell everything at once; we don't have to send different people in."
Collins said he doesn't think it will affect fans of the university.
"I think again what we're trying to do is create better relationships with our sponsorships," he said. "It's part of that seamless integration that we are trying to do. We are trying to sell Ball State University and Ball State athletics. I think we can do a better job at that than Nelligan's."
Nelligan Sports has generated more than $375 million for its clients throughout the years.
Nelligan said Ball State's decision not to renew the contract with Nelligan Sports is a big mistake that the university will come to regret.
"We have ... trained people on site," Nelligan said. "We also have 40 representatives calling and when they call somewhere they are calling on behalf of Ball State. ... They're going to be in for a rude awakening in a few years for taking things in-house."
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