The campaign serves to inform fans that Tiger football is more than just a 60-minute football game.

"Saturdays at the U" is a campaign that was developed by the Leffler Agency, a Baltimore-based creative advertising, branding and public relations agency.

"We are closely targeting the Towson and Baltimore County areas with our advertising this year," says Rachel Crawford, Account Executive at the Leffler Agency. "Our focus is to appeal to the average adult, who is looking for something fun to do. We are also reaching out to families who are looking for an affordable and enjoyable outing like the one that Tiger football provides."

"Saturdays at the U" is the Tigers' rallying cry to the entire Baltimore metropolitan area, from students to alumni, neighbors to newcomers, to support the Tigers' football program as they enter the 2010 season.

Bob Leffler, the Founder and President of the Leffler Agency, adds, "'Our 'Saturdays at the U' campaign is all about a great day of the total college football experience in a very comfortable facility. Unitas Stadium ('the U') and Towson Tiger football provide a wholesome, fun atmosphere for all of the greater Baltimore area to enjoy. Our campaign seeks to communicate to an expanded customer base beyond the basic sports fan groups."

READ MORE

"The Leffler Agency brings a wealth of experience in both intercollegiate and professional sports that will benefit our program," Quinlan said. "We are pleased to partner with them as we look to expand our reach in the New Jersey sports community."

READ MORE

Talk of expansion and potentially high-stakes musical chairs began in December when the Big Ten Conference announced it would begin a 12-18 month evaluation on the merits of adding additional teams. The Big Ten currently has 11 teams and could expand to as many as 16.

Why all this talk about expansion? Follow the money, said Tom McElroy, former senior associate commissioner of the Big East and a graduate of St. Bonaventure.

"Membership in varying leagues are pressing conference offices to make more money," said McElroy, now senior vice president/sports division of the Leffler Agency, a sports and entertainment advertising agency. "The cost of business is going up for all of us. If you're able to sit back and take a long-term view of where college athletics has come it's almost like an evolutionary thing. If you apply simple laws of economics and marketplace, it makes sense of what's happening: We're looking for a bigger piece of the pie."

READ MORE

The ideology was superb to start. Teck said that with over 30 area high schools having teams and kids playing in the streets, it was the right time in order to expand the landscape of popularity. The ownership team learned, also, from the mistakes of the past. An article done by current NFL Network contributer Jason LaCanfora about the new team showed what the Bandits team had learned from what the Skipjacks could not.

The Baltimore Bandits will market extensively and promote the sport. The Skipjacks did little in those areas to boost the team. Bob Leffler, whose ad agency handled the Skipjacks, now works for the Bandits. He said the new ownership is consumed with making hockey work.

"Gertec is putting together a massive marketing campaign," Leffler said. "They are dedicated to spending $1 million to advertising. The last time we had that kind of financial support was with the Blast [of the Major Indoor Soccer League] in the mid-'80s. They were drawing 11,000 fans a game then."

Bandits merchandise has been in stores since mid-July, the team already has begun advertising on Orioles radio broadcasts and it is negotiating with three local radio stations for broadcast rights. It will focus its campaign on television and billboard advertising in the coming months.

READ MORE

The fact that Tebow played high school football at Nease and had a glittering Heisman Trophy-winning career at Florida has made Tebow the center of speculation over whether the Jaguars should draft him, and the impact he would have on the field and in ticket sales.

Marc Ganis, the founder of Chicago-based Sportscorp Ltd. who has been involved in the development of two dozen stadiums, believes drafting Tebow would only give the Jaguars a spike of about 2,000 to 3,000 season tickets.

And Bob Leffler, the head of the Leffler agency, the largest sports entertainment advertising agency in America with 45 clients, including 27 colleges, thinks Ganis is in the right ballpark. He puts the number of tickets that drafting Tebow would sell at about 2,000.

Because the Jaguars have to sell 13,000 more non-premium seats to lift the TV blackouts and also have thousands of premium seats for sale, drafting him might not make much of a dent in their ticket inventory.

Both Ganis and Leffler said the biggest issue with Tebow is he's not rated that highly or seen as a quarterback who can turn a franchise around.

"If Tebow were a John Elway it'd be different, but he's not regarded that way," Leffler said.

READ MORE

There's no player in the 15-year history of the Jaguars franchise who's been the subject of as much pre-draft scrutiny as Tim Tebow.

The fact that Tebow played high school football at Nease and had a glittering Heisman Trophy-winning career at Florida has made Tebow the center of speculation over whether the Jaguars should draft him, and the impact he would have on the field and in ticket sales.

Birdland Express won the gold in the "Best Outdoor - Mass Transit, Exterior" category.

Bill Etter was the art director and Jason Snapkoski was the account executive from the Leffler Agency. Rich Frank was the advertising manager for the Orioles.

The Best of Baltimore Addy Awards hosted by the American Advertising Federation. Golds winners now move on now to a regional competition against winners from other east coast markets including New York, Philadelphia, Washington, DC and Richmond.

PART 1

PART 2

READ MORE

Saints Soar Past Hawks for 26th Straight Home Win in front of 7,998

READ MORE

READ MORE

The Siena men's basketball attendance record that was set last season may not stand for long.

Based on season-ticket sales, the Saints could draw even more people to Times Union Center than in 2008-09, when they averaged 7,497 fans.
That was the highest average attendance since the team moved to Times Union Center full time for the 1997-98 season.

Siena, which begins its home schedule Tuesday against Northeastern, has sold 4,068 season-ticket packages -- an all-time high for the program and about 500 more than last year.

"You're looking at a successful team, and based on the season tickets sold, there should be strong attendance this year," Siena athletic director John D'Argenio said. "First and foremost it's because of the product."

READ MORE

Art Director - Bill Etter
Account Executive - Jason Snapkoski

But when Chiefs running back Larry Johnson used an antigay slur on his Twitter account and in the locker room this week, he struck a nerve that makes professional sports leagues wince.

The NFL, like other pro sports leagues, is perceived as homophobic. Of the more than 20,000 athletes who have played in the NFL, less than a handful have identified themselves as gay -- David Kopay was the first in 1975, followed by Roy Simmons and Esera Tuaolo -- and only after their careers had ended.

Now the image-conscious NFL -- which fines players for wearing droopy socks or the wrong-colored chin straps, is frightened by the prospect of Rush Limbaugh as an owner and enforces a rigid personal conduct policy -- is confronted with how to deal with gay-bashing.

"There isn't a road map for this," said Bob Leffler, president of the Baltimore-based The Leffler Agency, the largest sports-advertising company in the country and former sales and marketing director of the Baltimore Colts. "It's different from other fines like leading with your helmet.

"It's a freedom of speech issue. For whatever reason people are more truthful with their tweets and Facebook. ... When you have extreme masculinity situations like football, people who have a hangup about (homosexuality) are more intimidated by it. But there's no place for a homophobe."

READ MORE

READ MORE

The Bearcats next home games versus West Virginia is already sold out. Cincinnati is ranked 5th in the country.