CHICAGO, April 4, 2008 /PRNewswire/ — North America Sports Media, Inc. (NASM), one of the nation’s leading sports marketing, travel and hospitality companies, announced the addition of Dodds Athletic Tours, the leading full service official collegiate sports tour company in the United States. With this acquisition NASM will now service 57ACIORFIPROCENTE of the collegiate sports tour industry, and will manage travel for 48 of the approximately 70 major NCAA schools that consistently travel.
“The significant increase in college sports tours, coupled with our procurement and activation experience makes Dodds a perfect strategic fit,” said Chris Brennan, CEO of NASM. “This is another step in accelerating our strategy to build a broad based sports marketing, hospitality and promotional platform with tremendous reach into the corporate, retail and collegiate consumer channels.”
Since 1963, Dodds Athletic Tours (Dodds) has specialized in developing, marketing, and activating official university sports tours for over 40 leading schools from the Big 10, Big 12, ACC, SEC, PAC 10, Big East, and other major conferences. Schools represented by Dodds include: University of Illinois, Ohio State, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Texas, Tennessee, Kansas, UCLA, Florida State and many others. Dodds has excelled in providing travel and hospitality for the biggest events in college sports; BCS National Championship, Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and the Final Four.
Under terms of the agreement, owners Christy and Ken Bruce will remain President and Executive Vice President, respectively, of Dodds and also will retain an equity ownership in NASM. “Christy and Ken have done an outstanding job in establishing Dodds as the number one choice in quality and service for collegiate sports travel. NASM is excited to have them join our team as we continue to build our college sports group,” said Brennan.
This is the third acquisition in the past three years for NASM and sports marketing veteran Brennan. The addition of Dodds is a perfect complement to NASM’s college division, Premiere College Sports and expands their official university lineup while strategically aligning NASM’s other core businesses. These companies include: Premiere Sports Travel one of the largest retail sports travel providers in the United States; TSE Sports & Entertainment, a full service sports marketing company and industry leader in worldwide corporate hospitality; and Gotickets.com a leading secondary ticket provider of hard-to-get tickets to concerts, sporting events and theater. The Dodds acquisition further extends NASM’s sales, services and product offerings into the highly sought after college sports market and will provide colleges and universities access to a variety of worldwide sports experiences for key donors, sponsors, alumni and fans.
“After 45 years in the collegiate travel industry, we are excited to join such an experienced and cutting-edge team,” said Christy and Ken Bruce of Dodds. “With the broad range of resources now available to Dodds, we look forward to expanding our overall product offering to the marketplace.”
About North America Sports Media: NASM ( ) is a holding company formed by private equity firm Pfingsten Partners, L.L.C. and sports marketer Chris Brennan to build an integrated sports marketing platform. NASM divisions include New York-based TSE Sports & Entertainment ( ) a full-service sports marketing company that provides customized incentive and brand-building programs for Fortune 1000 clients; North Carolina-based Premiere Sports Travel ( ), a leading sports travel and hospitality company that sells direct to consumers; Gotickets.com ( ), an online secondary ticket company that specializes in sporting and entertainment events; and Premiere Sports Alliances, a sports marketing company specializing in event management services, sponsorship and promotion.
North America Sports Media, Inc.