A Texas-based multimedia marketer in collegiate athletics has acquired a controlling interest in ANC Sports Enterprises LLC in Purchase, an 18-year-old company that designs and installs digital signage and video screens in sports arenas and retail and transportation facilities.
The new owner, Learfield Sports in Plano, Texas, is a 42-year-old marketing company that partners with nearly 100 colleges and collegiate athletic associations. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed by the parties.
A spokesman for ANC said Learfield is focusing its growth in four primary areas ”“ multimedia rights business, digital content, national sales, and extended business lines such as ANC”™s video and digital technologies. The acquisition enables Learfield to provide its college partners with integrated video display and digital signage, while giving ANC a larger platform to continue its growth into professional sports and other venues. The Purchase company also does marketing for clients in the sports and entertainment marketplace.
ANC in 2014 deployed the largest center-hung video screen in the world at the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Quicken Loans Arena and the largest digital media network in a transit center at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority”™s new Fulton Center hub in New York City. The company has installed more than $200 million worth of signage equipment in sports venues since 2000, and has completed 47 major projects over the past two years, according to a spokesman. Its display systems are installed at 18 National Basketball Association team arenas, 36 colleges and 14 Major League Baseball parks, including Yankee Stadium.
Learfield Sports executives said ANC will continue to be led by its co-founder, Rye resident Jerry Cifarelli, as president and CEO, and will remain operating in Westchester as ANC Sports Enterprises. The ANC management team will report to Learfield Chief Operating Officer Marc Jenkins.
Greg Brown, Learfield Sports president and CEO, in the announcement called the acquisition “an exciting move” for his company. “So often, we are in discussions with our collegiate partners about new stadium or arena technology needs and display capabilities and having this expertise in our family of services will be a huge asset,” he said.
Cifarelli in the announcement said ANC”™s “growth initiative to bring our high-quality technology and services to the college market seamlessly fits into Learfield”™s overall business strategy.”
