February 17, 1997
The NCAA and other groups with an interest in college football have joined together to form NCAA Football USA, a coalition devoted to the promotion of the college game.
The other involved associations are the Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA), the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).
NCAA Football USA, which was announced February 13 in Atlanta, is designed to heighten interest in college football and serve as a brand mark for the college game. NCAA Football USA will market and promote the game nationally by developing a marketing fund for promotional, licensing, merchandising, media, hospitality and other initiatives.
"I'm extremely excited that we have joined together to pool our collective resources under the 'Power of One' unified coalition to create a national brand for NCAA Football USA," NCAA Executive Director Cedric W. Dempsey said. "The intent of NCAA Football USA is to benefit all who play and support the game -- from the student-athletes to the coaches, administrators and institutions."
The NCAA's involvement in NCAA Football USA is to promote the game; the Association will not realize any revenue from the endeavor.
In addition, individual institutions and conferences will continue to use their own promotional marks. They expect to gain more revenue from the complementary dollars generated from the use of a national brand mark for college football.
"As a result of NCAA Football USA and our collective efforts to support it, more adults and children will become interested in playing and supporting football on all levels," said Bobby Bowden, football coach at Florida State University and a member of the AFCA Board of Trustees. "Additional funding will now become available to make that happen."
Some of the promotional programs that will be made available by NCAA Football USA are an NCAA Football USA national television program; a public relations and research component; a nationally syndicated NCAA Football USA Radio Game of the Week; a traveling-wheel fan festival; an NCAA Football USA coaches' poll; an on-campus interactive video game tour; and targeted public relations efforts directed at pre-college youth.
NCAA corporate partners also will gain the opportunity to develop exclusive promotional programs with individual universities by using the NCAA Football USA brand in conjunction with the individual institutional marks.
"While college football is one of the most popular sports in the country as evidenced by the 36 million people who attend the games annually, there are still some outstanding promotional opportunities that will enhance the game nationwide," said Steven J. Hatchell, commissioner of the Big Twelve Conference. "We think the new promotional package for football is a very sincere, strong effort to put together a plan and package for football, on all levels, which will serve for the betterment of the game."
NCAA Football USA is the first of four promotional ventures planned under the umbrella of the NCAA Sports USA. Similar endeavors will take place in men's and women's basketball, women's sports, and Olympics sports.
In the case of NCAA Football USA, a mark will be developed and made available to corporate partners and licensees, which will be able to use it for merchandise and promotional material.
Institutions also will have the opportunity to cross-license merchandise using the NCAA Football USA mark along with their institutional mark. Funds generated through licensing and merchandising will be directed into the NCAA Football USA national marketing fund.
NCAA Football USA will be administered by a 14-member board containing the following representatives:
Appropriate staff, including a vice-president, will be hired by Host Communications, Inc., to support the program.
All 566 NCAA football-playing institutions will be able to benefit from the program. A similar program will be developed by the football-playing members of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.