MGM Grand Showcase doubleheader announced

LAS VEGAS – Four Top 25 college basketball programs will be on display at MGM Grand in Las Vegas Saturday, Dec. 21, 2013 in an inaugural nationally televised doubleheader. The MGM Grand Showcase will feature Marquette vs. New Mexico and Oklahoma State vs. Colorado at the MGM Grand Garden Arena with the games benefitting Coaches vs. Cancer, an initiative spearheaded by the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the American Cancer Society.

bd Global, LLC, a Lexington, Ky.-based sports marketing firm, has signed an exclusive three-year contract with MGM Grand to provide college basketball content. The Showcase is the first of several new regular season college basketball events at MGM Grand over the next few seasons. In 2012, the resort played host to the Holiday Hoops Classic and this past March partnered with the Pac-12 Conference to become its new home for the annual Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament.

The MGM Grand Showcase tips with reigning Mountain West champion New Mexico taking on Marquette at 6:00 p.m. PT in the opener, televised live on ESPNU. All-American Marcus Smart then leads Oklahoma State against Colorado at 8:30 p.m. PT, which will be broadcast to more than 100 million homes on ESPN2. The two games will be played at the 16,800-seat MGM Grand Garden Arena, home of the biggest names in sports and entertainment including many of boxing’s premier championship bouts over the past two decades.

“Many thanks to MGM Grand for its commitment to helping us launch this annual event benefitting a cause that college basketball passionately supports,” said Brooks Downing, president of bd Global, the event promoter. “With four of the nation’s top teams for next season, it will definitely have a March Madness atmosphere that day at MGM Grand.”

New Mexico returns to Las Vegas after winning the Mountain West Conference Tournament at UNLV last March. The Lobos, coming off a 29-6 season, return four starters for new head coach Craig Neal. Senior guard Kendall Williams led the team in scoring last season at 13.3 points per game and junior center Alex Kirk averaged 12.1 per contest to go along with 8.1 rebounds.

Coach Buzz Williams has Marquette primed for another strong year following last season’s run to the Elite Eight. The Golden Eagles captured a share of the Big East regular season title in 2012-13 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament East Regional Final before falling to Syracuse. MU will be led by 6-8, 290 lb. Davante Gardner, a senior forward that averaged 11.5 points and 4.8 rebounds last year.

Oklahoma State and head coach Travis Ford received an unexpected boost when Smart, a National Player of the Year candidate, opted to return for his sophomore season despite being an expected top-five selection in the NBA Draft. He will lead a Cowboys team that went 24-9 last season and returns three other starters, including standout Le’Bryan Nash.

Colorado head coach Tad Boyle has quickly positioned his Buffs among the elite of the Pac-12 with back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances since moving to the league in 2011. CU returns four starters from a team that won 21 games a year ago, including Spencer Dinwiddie (15.3 points, 3.0 assists) and Askia Booker (12.4 points, 3.5 rebounds).

A portion of every ticket sold for the MGM Grand Showcase will directly benefit Coaches vs. Cancer. The program provides critical mission outreach while raising funds in support of the American Cancer Society’s lifesaving efforts to help people stay well and get well, fund groundbreaking research into cancer’s causes and cures, and fight back through legislative action at the local, state, and national levels. Since 1993, high school and college coaches across the country have raised more than $87 million to support the American Cancer Society’s fight against cancer.

Reggie Minton, NABC deputy executive director, said, “Our NABC coaches have championed the Coaches vs. Cancer program for 20 years now. We are very appreciative for the support we receive for this initiative in the hope of finding a cure for cancer.”

Tickets ranging from $30 – $250 (courtside seating), not including applicable service charges and taxes, go on sale Thursday, July 25 at 10 a.m. and will be sold at all Las Vegas Ticketmaster locations (select Smith’s Food and Drug Centers and Ritmo Latino). Ticket sales are limited to eight (8) per person. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Tickets also are available for purchase at www.mgmgrand.com or www.ticketmaster.com.

Complete event information can be found at www.mgmgrandshowcase.com. For group sales or sponsorship opportunities, interested parties should contact bd Global at 859-951-6141.

Harper Among Elite in 2013 NCAA Tourney Field

bd Global client Ray Harper, playing in consecutive NCAA Tournaments after taking over as Western Kentucky head basketball coach in midseason last year, ranks among the top coaches in the field of 68 in terms of NCAA Tournament bonus, according to ESPN.

During a tournament preview show aired live on the network, ESPN sports business reporter Darren Rovell listed the top coaches bonuses in the tournament. Harper’s cash bonus of $37,500 ranked fourth among known bonuses, behind Louisville’s Rick Pitino, Florida’s Billy Donovan and Ohio State’s Thad Matta. UCLA’s Ben Howland rounded out the top-five.

bonuses

Harper, who had won two NCAA DII titles at Kentucky Wesleyan and two NAIA Championships at Oklahoma City, was named interim head coach midway through the 2011-12 season after the Hilltoppers had begun the year with a 5-11 start. He turned the team around, ending the season by winning seven of WKU’s last eight games, including four straight in the Sun Belt Tournament and a first round game in the NCAA Tournament.

In 2013, his team battled multiple injuries, including a mid-season broken foot by starting guard Jamaal Crook, yet again won four straight in four days to win the league tournament and capture the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Shortly after the season, Harper, 51, signed a four-year contract with the Hilltoppers.

bd Global instrumental as LPGA adds first tour stop in The Bahamas

LEXINGTON – bd Global, LLC achieved a significant milestone in its inaugural year by securing a Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tour stop on behalf of The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism. The new event, entitled the Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic, will include four tournament rounds with 72 holes of stroke play, a $1.3 million (USD) purse and global coverage on the Golf Channel.

“It is gratifying to see the efforts from all three parties come to fruition,” said bd Global president and founder, Brooks Downing. “Bahamas Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe personally requested that we assist him in finding and securing a signature event that would provide international exposure with significant economic impact for his country, and without question, the LPGA Tour’s product met those criteria.

“The LPGA staff, led by Commissioner Mike Whan, was very accommodating and helped us pull this together in a matter of a few months. It took a great amount of cooperation, flexibility and tremendous trust to pull this together in such a short time.”

The event, the first official appearance by the LPGA in The Bahamas, is scheduled for May 23-26, 2013 and is contracted for the corresponding week in 2014 as well. In 2013, the tournament will be played at the Ocean Club Golf Course on Paradise Island. The Golf Channel will produce, televise and distribute the event to the LPGA’s international television partners. The event is expected to generate 4,000 room nights while the television exposure will reach nearly 250 million households in more than 170 countries.

“While it is a tremendous feather in our cap to have played the primary role in bringing the LPGA to The Bahamas, it is very gratifying to see our partners achieve their goals and objectives. Tourism will use the event to continue its effort to brand The Bahamas as an international sports destination location while the LPGA achieves its goal to grow its Tour,” said Downing. “I truly believe that the LPGA Tour is the fastest growing, most affordable global sports property in operation today.”

The LPGA Tour now boasts 28 events with $49 million in prize money. bd Global, a full-service sports marketing and representation agency based in Lexington, Ky., was launched in September by its founder, a 26-year sports industry veteran.

LINKS: LPGA PRESS RELEASE  |  NASSAU GUARDIAN ARTICLE  |  NASSAU TRIBUNE ARTICLE

UCLA, Texas lock horns in doubleheader at Reliant Stadium

HOUSTON – It may just be 30 days into the new season, but Saturday’s matchup between Texas and UCLA in men’s basketball will likely prove to be a pivotal game as each team prepares for their upcoming conference seasons. The squads will meet in the inaugural MD Anderson Proton Therapy Showcase at Reliant Stadium, which also showcases both schools’ women’s teams. The doubleheader begins with the women’s game at 1:30 p.m.

“When you play a non-league schedule like we are playing, it’s going to benefit us to play a team like UCLA,” said Rick Barnes, whose team will play Georgetown in the Jimmy V Classic on Tuesday in New York. “Ben (Howland’s) teams are always tough. This game is going to prepare us for when we get into Big 12 Conference play.”

The Longhorns are 5-2 headed into their contest with the Hoyas, having lost two games in the Maui Invitational two weeks ago while still playing without point guard Myck Kabongo, who is awaiting the NCAA’s decision to participate after the organization claimed he had received improper benefits.

The youthful Bruins (5-3), who Howland is rebuilding with the nation’s top freshmen class, have yet to find their stride, rising to No. 11 in the national rankings before falling out of the polls. Howland has even had to venture from his customary, hard-nosed man-to-man defense in favor of more zone, after two players left his program before the end of November leaving him with just eight scholarship players on the roster.

“I think we can (continue to have success),” junior Travis Wear told the Orange County Register. “I think our identity might change a little bit. We’ve still got a lot of talented pieces. We’ve still got a lot of guys that believe that we can win games, and I think that we can go far this year and do a lot of great things.”

Wear’s Bruins will use the week to develop that identity, playing its second of two exhibition games this season before traveling to Houston.

So while both men’s teams are searching for a rhythm just one month into the new season, the women’s game will feature two Top-25 teams.

“We are excited about this game as Houston is clearly a hot bed for recruiting in men’s and women’s basketball,” said first-year UT coach, Karen Aston. “There is enormous talent in the city and it’s great for us to have the opportunity to showcase the University of Texas brand of basketball.”

The UT women are 5-0 to start the season and ranked No. 12 in the country. UCLA (4-1) is ranked No. 17, its lone loss coming to No. 4 Notre Dame last month. The Bruins own a victory over Big 12-foe Oklahoma in Norman three weeks ago.

Tickets are on sale at all Ticketmaster locations, Ticketmaster.com and the Reliant Stadium box office. Seats are priced from $25 to $78. The women’s game will be televised by the Longhorn Network while the men’s game will air to 100 million homes on ESPN at 4:15 p.m. with the Hall of Fame analyst Dick Vitale calling the action.

SBJ: Brooks Downing launches own agency

SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL (NOV. 5, 2012)

By Michael Smith, Staff Writer

Veteran marketer and agent Brooks Downing has left Lagardère Unlimited to open his own agency in Lexington, Ky., where he will primarily represent college coaches and manage events.

Downing, who founded BD Global Sports and will serve as president, will be heavily invested in the college space, both with coaches and college basketball tournaments and doubleheaders. That’s mainly what he was doing for Blue Equity’s BEST, and eventually Lagardère when the French company acquired Blue Equity’s sports and entertainment affiliate.

Downing, previously the chief communications director for University of Kentucky basketball, started the agency with four clients, most notably Indiana basketball coach Tom Crean, whose Hoosiers start the season with a No. 1 ranking.

Downing is handling Crean’s marketing, while the coach’s contract work is done by CAA Sports’ Trace Armstrong. BD Global’s other basketball coaching clients at launch are Western Kentucky’s Ray Harper, UNC Wilmington’s Buzz Peterson and Morehead State’s Sean Woods, all of whom are full-service clients.

Downing said he intends to move into college football as well, but Crean, who has led a rebuilding effort out of NCAA sanctions for the last four years, clearly represents Downing’s marquee client.

“When he got to Indiana four years ago, the fan base was really exhausted” from the NCAA investigation, Downing said. “With what he’s done at IU, there’s really a renewed interest in the program and in Coach Crean. So what we’re doing is seeking opportunities for him in the corporate marketplace. They might be internal or they might be external. But he’s gone from where a local speech to the Rotary Club was a great deal to now being in position for some national opportunities, and those don’t come along for college coaches that often.”

On the events side, BD Global will operate and manage a men’s and women’s doubleheader in December between Texas and UCLA in Houston’s Reliant Stadium. The event is billed as the MD Anderson Proton Therapy Showcase. The Proton Therapy Center is based within the University of Texas’ MD Anderson Cancer Center and will serve as the title sponsor.

BD Global handles sponsorship and group sales. The title sponsorship that was sold to MD Anderson was initiated by the sales team at Lagardère and closed by Downing, he said. They will continue to work together on sales efforts.

In the past, Downing also has overseen tennis and golf tournaments, as well as basketball events, and he envisions a future running college football neutral-site games as well.

Because of Downing’s background at Kentucky, he also will offer public relations and crisis management as a third core competency for the agency.

MD Anderson Proton Therapy Showcase announced

HOUSTON – Some of the biggest stars in college basketball will be on display at Reliant Stadium in Houston on Dec. 8, 2012 when Texas battles UCLA in the newly named MD Anderson Proton Therapy Showcase. The inaugural event features a men’s/women’s doubleheader between the Longhorns and Bruins and is presented by the Proton Therapy Center at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

The Showcase is the first of what is planned to be an annual event in Houston, highlighting top college basketball programs each season.

“Many thanks to the University of Texas Athletics for its commitment to helping us launch this annual event,” said Brooks Downing, president of bd Global, the event promoter. “To pair the Longhorns against UCLA, college basketball’s most decorated program, in the men’s game creates one of the best non-conference games in the country this season. And in our tip-off game, we have the unique opportunity to showcase two programs that will likely be in the NCAA Tournament next March.”

As part of the world-renowned MD Anderson Cancer Center, the top-ranked cancer hospital in the nation, the Proton Therapy Center offers the most advanced radiation available to treat tumors in the prostate, lungs, head, neck, esophagus and brain, as well as lymphoma and childhood cancers.  One of the most active centers in the nation, the MD Anderson Proton Therapy Center continues to pioneer new techniques, such as pencil beam scanning and intensity modulated proton therapy, and is one of the few centers in the world to offer these innovative treatments to patients.

“The MD Anderson Proton Therapy Center is proud to support this inaugural event in college basketball,” said Steven J. Frank, M.D., associate professor of Radiation Oncology and the director for Advanced Technologies at MD Anderson. “Just as the teams playing in this event and the NCAA strive toward excellence, our team here at the Proton Therapy Center is committed to providing the best possible care to our patients and their families, to help them overcome cancer and get back to living their lives.”

UCLA comes to town with the nation’s top-ranked freshman class while Texas boasts a top-5 class of its own in addition to a talented crop of returning players. The Longhorns will be led by a sophomore trio of Sheldon McClellan, Myck Kabongo and Julien Lewis while adding McDonald’s All-American center Cameron Ridley, ranked as the No. 8 player in the Class of 2012 by ESPN.

“I’ve always said playing in Houston should be a priority for our program,” said Texas coach Rick Barnes. “We have so many Texas alums and fans in the Houston area, and obviously the area has proven to be great for us in regards to recruiting. We’ve had great fan support in our previous trips to Houston, and we know the Texas fans will do their part to make sure we have a great atmosphere for this game.”

Expectations are high in Westwood as UCLA enters the season projected to be ranked among the nation’s top-10 teams. Coach Ben Howland landed the nation’s No. 1-ranked recruiting class during the off-season, an incoming group led by a pair of McDonald’s All-Americans – Shabazz Muhammad, ranked as the No. 2 incoming player in the nation, and Kyle Anderson, ranked No. 5. The class also features a third McDonald’s All-American in center Tony Parker as well as shooting guard Jordan Adams.

“We are very excited about playing Texas this season in Houston,” said Howland, who has coached the Bruins to three Final Four appearances in his nine years at UCLA. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to play in Reliant Stadium, a world-class venue that will provide a great setting for college basketball between two historic programs. I have great respect for Rick Barnes and the University of Texas, and I know that our players are really looking forward to facing the Longhorns.”

New Texas women’s coach Karen Aston will lead her Longhorns squad against UCLA in the opening game of the doubleheader. A former assistant at UT under the legendary Jody Conradt, Aston returns to Austin after four years as the head coach at Charlotte and one season at North Texas. The Longhorns are led by top returner Chassidy Fussell, an All-Big 12 first team selection last season.

“We’re tremendously excited to play in Houston where our fans will have the opportunity to see both Texas basketball teams compete at Reliant Stadium,” said Aston. “Our roster is laden with Texas talent – including Houston’s very own Chelsea Bass – and our players are looking forward to sharing their burnt-orange passion with each and every UT fan in the largest city in our state.”

The UCLA women return four starters and welcome back from injury All-American Jasmine Dixon and Atonye Nyingifa, both of which missed last season. The Bruins depth will be significant, thanks to Alyssia Brewer, who transferred from Tennessee and sat out the 2011-12 season, and a top-20 incoming freshmen class.

The Texas-UCLA women’s game will tip at 1:30 p.m. CT on Longhorn Network. The men’s contest is scheduled to start at 4:15 p.m. CT, and the game will be televised in 100 million homes nationally on ESPN.

Public tickets go on-sale at 10 a.m. CT on Wednesday, Oct. 17 at the Reliant Stadium box office, all Ticketmaster locations, Ticketmaster.com or by calling 800-745-3000. Citi cardmembers can purchase pre-sale tickets for the event through Tuesday, Oct. 16, then will have “preferred tickets” available beginning on Wednesday though Citi Private Pass at www.citiprivatepass.com. Tickets prices begin at $25.

Complete event information can be found at www.texasvsucla.com. For group sales or sponsorship opportunities, interested parties should contact bd Global at 859-951-6141.