2012 wmu football record book - Western Michigan University ...

DR. JON STEINBRECHER — MAC COMMISSIONER69against other FBS conferences.Steinbrecher directed a strategic planning process for the MAC,increased national exposure for the conference, as well as newopportunities for the conference in the areas of a new regionaltelevision network deal, marketing and sponsorships and securinglong-term partnerships for MAC neutral site championship events.In the summer of 2010, the MAC entered into a three-year regionaltelevision deal with SportsTime Ohio to expand its television coveragein football and men’s and women’s basketball. This providesthe MAC a regional television presence for programming throughoutthe year, and increases promotion and marketing opportunitiesfor the conference.In 2011-12, Steinbrecher led the conference as it launched thefirst-ever MAC Digital Network in partnership with XOS Digital.This new initiative provided the conference with a new website,enhanced 16 x 9 video player for live streaming events and On-Demand programming, mobile platforms via the iPhone, iPad,Android, Blackberry, and weekly video content featuring football,basketball and championship previews.MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE COMMISSIONER,Dr. Jon A. SteinbrecherDr. Jon A. Steinbrecher enters his fourth year with the Mid-AmericanConference (MAC) after being named the league’s eighth commissioneron March 16, 2009.Steinbrecher has expanded bowl opportunities for the conferenceand stabilized conference membership in football, increased nationaland regional television exposure, launched the conference’sfirst-ever digital network, renegotiated the conference marketingrights agreement with ISP/IMG College and enhanced neutral siteconference championships in basketball, volleyball and baseball.Specifically in football, Steinbrecher has stabilized and increasedconference membership with 13 programs as the MAC welcomesthe addition of the University of Massachusetts (UMass) to beginas a football-only member in 2012. This provides the conferencethe opportunity to expand the conference footprint into New Englandand into the Boston and Hartford/Springfield markets.Steinbrecher has built upon the conference bowl agreements to aconference-best three primary (Little Caesars Pizza Bowl; GoDaddy.com Bowl and Famous Idaho Potato Bowl) and four secondaryagreements (Gildan New Mexico Bowl, Beef O’Brady’s St. PetersburgBowl, TicketCity Bowl and the BBVA Compass Bowl). Thesebowl agreements provide the MAC the opportunity to build onrelationships with multiple bowl partners, expand national televisionexposure and broaden geographical opportunities to performIn 2011, Steinbrecher also negotiated a new marketing agreementwith ISP for the conference marketing and sponsorship rightsthrough 2019. ISP merged with IMG College and this long-termdeal solidified the conference marketing partnership with the newIMG College brand.Steinbrecher negotiated a six-year contract extension with Cleveland’sQuicken Loans Arena to host the FirstEnergy MAC Men’s andWomen’s Basketball Conference Tournament through 2017. Thecontract extension guarantees the continuation of the conferencetournament at the same neutral site since 2000, originally GundArena and now named Quicken Loans Arena. Steinbrecher alsoannounced in 2011 the MAC Women’s Volleyball Tournamentswill move to SPIRE, part of the GaREAT family, located in Geneva,Ohio, a state of the art facility only 30 minutes east of DowntownCleveland. In addition, the MAC baseball tournaments in 2012-14will be played at All Pro Freight Stadium in Avon, Ohio.He joined the MAC after serving six years as commissioner of theOhio Valley Conference (OVC). Prior to the OVC, Steinbrecher servedas commissioner of the Mid-Continent Conference (the SummitLeague). He is the only person to serve as commissioner in allthree NCAA Division I Subdivisions (FBS, FCS, DI).In six years with the OVC, Steinbrecher significantly increasedthe league’s exposure through additional television coverage atthe regional and national level. In 2005, he negotiated a fiveyearcontract with ESPN that secured increased exposure for theleague. That included being the first conference to sign a deal tohave games appear on ESPNU, the OVC had the first sporting eventtelecast on that network (the 2005 OVC Men’s Basketball TournamentSemifinal).