Monday night, the Columbia Public Schools’ Board of Education approved an evaluation of whether or not the district could manage marketing for sports teams internally.
Currently, the district is in a five-year contract with Kelly Sports Properties, a marketing company based in Columbia. The contract is set to expire on June 30, 2016.
Linda Quinley is the Chief Financial Officer for the district. She said that the district would most likely not be able to manage marketing internally for less than the Kelly agreement.
“It’s not that we necessarily that we could come to you and say that we believe that we could do this for less money than we’re spending on the program today,” Quinley told board members. “The question is whether or not we feel like we could do it as well or better with the expertise and knowledge that we have gained.”
Kelly Sports Properties receives 30 percent of the revenue they make. The rest of the money is distributed among district sports teams, who may use it however they choose.
An internal process would require extra staff, but could also provide opportunities, like using marketing interns from local colleges to help staff the program. The Board must choose to move forward with internal marketing or open another bid for an external contractor by the start of 2016.
Quinley said a CPS committee approved of the agreement in a review of its outcomes last winter.
“The overwhelming response was that this has been good for us as an organization because of the extra monies that it has driven to our programs, and because of the things that we’ve been able to gain and accomplish,” Quinley said.