TEAMING UP FOR NAMING RIGHTS: SIAC, with OVG, looks to sell deal across venues at conference schools

ATLANTA, Georgia -- The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference has signed a deal with Oak View Group to sell naming rights for sports facilities across the league’s 14 schools, which will include Savannah State after it joins the conference in 2019.

The strategy is to combine all assets among the members’ football, basketball and other sports venues into one comprehensive naming-rights package to bring greater value to the Division II league, said Dan Shell, head of OVG Collegiate, the division of the company working with the conference. (OVG also owns VenuesNow).

The SIAC, a 105-year-old organization whose headquarters are in Atlanta, represents the largest group of historically black colleges and universities in the country. The 14 schools cover major markets such as Atlanta, Birmingham and Nashville, among other Southeast cities.

In addition to Savannah State, conference schools are Albany State, Benedict College, Central State University, Clark Atlanta University, Fort Valley State, Kentucky State, Lane College, LeMoyne-Owen College, Miles College, Morehouse College, Paine College, Spring Hill College and Tuskegee University. Clark Atlanta and Morehouse are both Atlanta-based institutions.

The deal falls in line with other leaguewide sponsorships that the conference has signed over the past 10 years to generate incremental revenue and boost its exposure, Commissioner Greg Moore said.

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