Missouri State University has signed a five-year contract with Nexstar Broadcasting Inc. with a promotional value of roughly $2 million to air Bears basketball games on the company's KOLR-10 and KOZL television stations.
Previously, KY3 Inc. contracted with MSU to air the games. Frank Cuervo, general manager of MSU athletics marketing partner Missouri State Sports Properties, said KY3 parent company Schurz Communications's four-year contract to broadcast Bears games ended, which led to a bidding process by both Schurz and Nexstar, as well as others.
"From our standpoint, we look at that as an opportunity to see what the market has to offer," Cuervo said of KY3's contract lapsing, noting Mediacom most recently held the rights before KY3. "We had great interest across the marketplace. When we reviewed proposals, we had to make some difficult choices."
The Nexstar deal, which is effective this academic year, comprises 17 telecasts of men's and women's basketball games annually on KOLR-10 and KOZL, 42 weekly highlight shows for football and basketball, and online, digital and promotional components, said Cuervo. A division of Learfield Sports, Missouri State Sports Properties negotiated the deal on behalf of MSU. MSU athletics and Learfield established Missouri State Sports Properties as its corporate sponsorship sales unit
in July after Learfield purchased former representative Nelligan Sports Marketing in February.
Cuervo said the 17 games - nine men's games and eight women's games - would be broadcast in high-definition, a major factor in the deal. As part of the agreement valued at approximately $400,000 annually, Nexstar's KOLR-10 and KOZL would have a significant advertising presence at JQH Arena and on the TV broadcasts.
Cuervo and Missouri State Sports Properties are finalizing plans for a third-party production company that would film and produce the games to air on KOLR-10 and KOZL. Cuervo said that process would likely be wrapped up within the next several weeks. In their proposals, both Nexstar and Schurz indicated the ability to broadcast in HD, Cuervo said.[[In-content Ad]]
