Learfield Sports announced on Thursday that it has acquired Strategic Marketing Affiliates (SMA), expanding its licensing, merchandising and brand marketing services within its portfolio of college businesses.
"Bob Bernard founded SMA in 1997, and the reputation of his company reflects his own personal reputation," said Learfield President and CEO Greg Brown. "He is one of the most respected individuals in college athletics, and so is his company. He has been a great partner of ours for years, and we are thrilled his company is now a part of our organization."
Indianapolis-based SMA has 20 employees, and Learfield will combine SMA with its licensing division, Licensed Resource Group (LRG).
"We have a great team of people, and we are thrilled to now be joining Learfield," Bernard said. "We've worked hard over the years to build valuable relationships in the college marketplace, and as a long-time partner of Learfield, I already know the team well and have great confidence in the company's ability to help us grow in our capabilities in the coming years. Learfield has a stellar reputation, and we are excited about this new chapter of growth for SMA."
SMA primarily provides schools with a suite of licensing services, including trademark and brand management and consulting. "We are looking forward to working with the SMA and LRG teams to combine our operations and expand the services we provide our partner schools," Brown said.
As the LRG and SMA organizations are merged, no job reductions are expected. Lewis Hardy, currently CEO of LRG, will become chairman of the combined group, and Bernard will serve as CEO. These two gentlemen will report to Learfield COO Marc Jenkins. The licensing services division of the company is a part of a group of other Learfield businesses that are complimentary to its collegiate multimedia rights enterprise. That group includes ticket sales, concessions and hospitality and the digital platform, SIDEARM Sports.
"We will continue SMA's record of personalized service," Brown added. "Those expectations are in perfect alignment with Learfield's approach to doing business and serving our university partners."
Learfield Sports is headquarted in Plano, Texas, and has a location in Jefferson City, Mo. Learfield manages the exclusive multimedia rights to nearly 100 collegiate properties in the country and has prominence in all of the major conferences. Learfield's rights encompass all athletic department media and sponsorships components, including stadium signage and numerous content distribution platforms. Those platforms deliver the passion of college athletics over radio, television and digital networks to fans globally.