May 2, 2007
Stanford, Calif. - Stanford Athletics today announced that its partnership with Cardinal Sports LLC (formerly known as Cardinal Sports Properties), a property of Learfield Sports, has officially launched and the team managing Stanford Athletics' marketing and multimedia rights efforts is now in place.
The Cardinal Sports team includes General Manager David Hubbard, Associate General Manager Eric Kwait, and Account Executive Janine Corcoran. Hubbard and his team will serve as Stanford Athletics' representative, retaining and building new corporate partnerships.
Cardinal Sports Team Seasoned in Sports Sales and Marketing
Hubbard comes to Stanford with more than 10 years experience in collegiate sports, most recently serving as General Manager for Learfield Sports' Kansas State property. As General Manager, Hubbard oversaw Kansas State's multimedia marketing rights and corporate sales efforts.
Hubbard began his career with Learfield Sports eight years ago as the Associate General Manager at the University of Oklahoma for Sooners Sports Properties. Three years later, he was promoted to General Manager to run the Clemson Tigers property. Prior to joining Learfield, Hubbard spent several years in collegiate sports marketing. Following a one-year period with the University of New Mexico, Hubbard worked for three years as the Assistant Director of Marketing at Marquette University, and later moved to the University of Texas El Paso to serve as the Assistant Athletic Director for Marketing and Promotions.
Also joining the Cardinal Sports team are Associate General Manager Eric Kwait and Account Executive Janine Corcoran. The hiring of a part-time intern is slated to be complete by May.
Eric Kwait joins Learfield after working seven years in the professional sports industry. Most recently, Kwait served as the Director of Corporate Development for the NBA's Houston Rockets. In this role, Kwait was responsible for building sponsorship sales, media partnerships and corporate development efforts for the Rockets and Toyota Center properties.
Prior to the Rockets, Kwait worked in the Bay Area as a Corporate Partnership Manager for Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment (SVS&E)/San Jose Sharks. In this capacity, he generated new sponsorship sales and successfully negotiated and sold corporate partnerships and media packages on behalf of San Jose Sharks, HP Pavilion, SAP Open, San Jose Stealth Lacrosse, and Miller Lite Fight Night at the Tank.
To round off the team, Cardinal Sports has recently appointed Janine Corcoran to serve as Account Executive. Corcoran, also familiar with the sports industry, has more than six years experience in sales and promotions. As a former Division-1 soccer player for the University of Delaware, Corcoran started her career as an Operations Coordinator with Major League Soccer in New York City. Soon after, Corcoran moved to the Bay Area and joined the San Jose Earthquakes as Youth Soccer Manager and Senior Account Executive. In this capacity, Corcoran initiated new sales programs for new and group ticket accounts.
Corcoran also spent a year in Seoul, Korea, as a Hospitality Client Services Consultant for the Fédération International de Football Association (FIFA) Marketing. In this role, she was responsible for hospitality services to FIFA's Commercial Affiliates in five different venues during the 2002 World Cup. Following the 2002 World Cup, Corcoran returned to the Bay Area to work for the NBA's Golden State Warriors as a Group Sales Account Executive. Corcoran was responsible for promoting the Warriors to Silicon Valley community, corporations, and non-profit organizations, as well as generating sales revenues through group promotions.
About Stanford Athletics
Founded in 1891, Stanford Athletics is a member of the Pac-10 Conference and the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Its administrative and coaching staff is committed to offering a wide range of high quality programs which will encourage and facilitate all participants to realize opportunities for championship athletic participation, recreation, physical fitness, health and well-being. Stanford Athletics manages 14 world-class sports facilities including Stanford Stadium, Maples Pavilion, Avery Aquatic Center and Stanford Golf Course. Serving more than 850 student athletes representing 35 intercollegiate athletic sports programs, no athletic department in the country can boast the kind of success that Stanford has accomplished since the 1980s. With 76 NCAA team champions (the most in the nation), 52 NCAA individual champions (also the most in the nation), 12 consecutive Directors' Cup titles, and 64 Olympic medals since the 1992 Games, it's no wonder Stanford Athletics is widely known as the "Home of the Champions." For more information, please visit gostanford.com.
About Learfield Sports
In addition to Stanford, Learfield Sports manages multimedia rights for more than 30 collegiate institutions and associations including fellow Pac-10 member Oregon State. The company also manages the marketing partnerships for the Black Coaches Association (BCA) and provides exclusive sports programming to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the country. Additionally, Team Services, LLC, a Learfield Sports company, specializes in venue naming rights, marketing research and sales consultation.Learfield Sports is an operating unit of Jefferson City, Mo.-based Learfield Communications, Inc., which made its initial foray into the world of sports marketing in 1975 as the radio rights holder for the University of Missouri, a client still today. For more information and a complete listing of Learfield Sports' portfolio, visit www.learfieldsports.com.