Big West Aligns With Steinberg

The Big West Conference has formed a marketing partnership with the Steinberg Moorad & Dunn sports management company of Newport Beach, it was announced Thursday.

The management group, headed by Leigh Steinberg, will take on the role of securing corporate sponsorships, negotiating future television and radio contracts and generating revenue for the conference and its members.

“We have some high aspirations as a conference, and we need to market our product,” Big West Commissioner Dennis Farrell said. “They’re highly creative, and we think they can help us get the conference to where we want it to be.”

Farrell said other conferences have used outside groups to develop corporate sponsorships. “But I think our relationship will be more broad-ranging,” he said.

Farrell said the partnership is designed to “develop a higher profile for the conference, particularly in basketball.”

Steinberg said the association with the Big West will be his firm’s second involvement in college sports marketing. It also has worked with the University of Hawaii.

Steinberg Moorad & Dunn represents more than 150 professional athletes in various sports.