May 23, 2005

BERKELEY - The University of California Athletic Department has reached a 10-year agreement with ISP Sports, the nation's leading firm in collegiate sports marketing, that grants to the Winston-Salem, N.C.-based company the exclusive multi-media rights to Golden Bear athletics, effective July 1, 2005.

The joint announcement was made by Sandy Barbour, Director of Athletics at Cal, and Ben C. Sutton, Jr., President and CEO of International Sports Properties, Inc.

"After extensive study and research, we concluded that ISP Sports not only offered us expanded revenue potential, but also was the best fit for our university," Barbour said. "By outsourcing our marketing efforts, we believe ISP Sports will elevate us to a new level of opportunity. While there will be a transitional period, we fully expect this new association to reap immediate benefits for both Cal athletics and ISP Sports."

The agreement, which guarantees the university an annual rights fee and additional considerations based upon revenue generated by ISP, will encompass corporate partnerships and the management and marketing of media rights.

"ISP Sports is delighted to join the Cal team and become part of an outstanding academic institution with such a strong athletic tradition," Sutton said. "I have been privileged to know Sandy Barbour for a number of years and respect her greatly as a professional and as a person. Our company is certainly honored that she and the university have selected us to enter into this partnership.

"We are committed to developing a high quality sports network and marketing product for Golden Bear fans and making this a strong relationship for what we hope will be many years."

Cal is the 22nd major collegiate athletic program to enlist the services of ISP Sports. Other universities which have formed partnerships with the sports marketing firm include Alabama, Auburn, UCLA, Clemson, Miami, Pittsburgh, South Carolina, Syracuse, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.

By entering this agreement with the University of California, ISP Sports acquires the marketing rights to one of the nation's elite programs. The Golden Bears, who have ranked ninth nationally in the annual Directors' Cup standings in each of the past two seasons, placed 11 teams in the nation's Top 10 during the 2003-04 season, with the men's rugby and men's golf teams claiming national titles, the softball team finishing second, men's crew seizing third, and women's golf, women's crew and men's water polo all placing fourth.

This past fall, the Cal football team finished the regular season with a 10-1 record and No. 4 national ranking. Football home attendance soared to a school-record 64,019 per game in 2004, the sharpest one-year increase (from 38,305 in 2003) in Division I-A in the past 12 years, according NCAA computer archives that date back only to 1993.