Press Release: Bull Run Corporation
February 1, 2001
ATLANTA, GA -- Host Communications, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Bull Run Corporation (Nasdaq: BULL), recently
signed Bass Hotels & Resorts, Inc. and its Holiday Inn Hotels and Resorts brand as the newest NCAA Corporate
Partner. As an official NCAA Corporate Partner, Holiday Inn becomes the ``Official Hotel for the NCAA'' and will
receive promotional benefits, including tournament promotional rights, access to NCAA licensing opportunities,
corporate identification in all NCAA tournament publications, as well as on NCAA tournament radio broadcasts.
Concurrent with this new partnership, Holiday Inn Hotels and Resorts announced the details supporting its ``Your
Ticket to March Madness'' promotional program that gives its 10 million Priority Club Worldwide members an opportunity
to secure tickets to the 2001 NCAA Men's and Women's Final Four* Tournaments. The program allows Priority Club
members to request Priority Club point redemption for Final Four ticket packages. In addition, Holiday Inn has
created a random drawing that gives everyone an opportunity to secure trips to the Final Four.
``Holiday Inn is the first hotel company to offer Final Four tickets through a hotel loyalty program,'' said Dan
Sweiger, director of marketing, Holiday Inn Hotels and Resorts. ``Market research shows Holiday Inn guests are
interested in watching and following NCAA sports, especially basketball. Our partnership with the NCAA has many
benefits, including the opportunity to reward our guests with the hard-to-get Final Four tickets they desire.''
Host Communications has had a contractual relationship with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)
since 1975 and developed the NCAA's Corporate Partner Program in 1984. Under the Program, select corporations link
their target markets to, and implement promotions around, NCAA Championships through a variety of advertising and
promotional opportunities. Host Communications' initial agreement in 1975 to administer radio rights and form a
national NCAA Radio Network for the men's Final Four has since expanded to publishing, Internet and corporate marketing
representation, including the exclusive licensing of various NCAA trademarks.
``We are very pleased with this new relationship,'' commented Robert S. Prather, Jr., Bull Run's President and
CEO. ``Holiday Inn joins an exclusive group of companies, such as General Motors, Gillette, American Express, Sears
and Pepsico, for which Host Communications has had a long history of providing quality services on behalf of the
NCAA.''
Bull Run, through Host Communications, provides affinity, multimedia, promotional and event management services
to universities, high schools, athletics conferences, associations and corporations. Bull Run also has significant
investments in Gray Communications Systems, Inc., an owner and operator of 13 television stations and four newspapers;
Rawlings Sporting Goods Company, Inc., a leading supplier of team sports equipment in North America; iHigh Inc.,
a company developing a high school marketing network focused on high school sports and activities; and Sarkes Tarzian,
Inc., an owner and operator of two television stations and four radio stations.
SOURCE: Bull Run Corporation