Learfield Sports to Acquire Digital Platform Provider SIDEARM Sports
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Learfield Sports has entered an agreement to acquire SIDEARM Sports, one of the leading digital platforms serving over 700 collegiate athletic programs with customized web, social media, design and mobile content services.
“We are very excited about this acquisition,” said Greg Brown, President and CEO of Learfield. “The SIDEARM platform provides athletic departments with an incredibly nimble and user-friendly platform.”SIDEARM was founded in 2001 by Jeff Rubin, who will continue to lead the business. SIDEARM has 60 employees and is based in Syracuse, NY. Learfield will not be making any employee changes and the terms of the transaction will remain confidential.
“Joining up with Learfield marks an incredibly important growth transition for SIDEARM,” said Rubin. “We will have at our disposal a fantastic platform of trusted collegiate relationships and a seasoned leadership team to help us expand our services. Learfield also provides our employees with many new professional career development opportunities.”
SIDEARM offers its clients an easy-to-use interface, allowing schools to customize their content streams and digital presence. “As we’ve learned more about SIDEARM, we have not only been impressed by the speed in which their platform has been adopted, but also the incredibly positive comments made by their clients about their service, reliability and customization,” added Brown.
The addition of SIDEARM to Learfield’s growing portfolio of collegiate businesses adds yet another strategic service the company is able to offer its university partners. Learfield recently expanded its service offering to include licensing and trademark management and consulting when it announced the acquisition of LRG. The SIDEARM leadership team will continue to manage the business day-to-day and will report to Learfield Sports’ COO Marc Jenkins.
“We have enjoyed getting to know the folks at Learfield, and we believe what we’ve built at SIDEARM will fit perfectly with package of services the company already provides its clients,” noted Rubin. “Learfield has a fantastic company culture that we are excited to now be a part of.”
“Strategically, this is right down the fairway for us,” said Brown. “We couldn’t be more pleased to have the SIDEARM team join the Learfield family.”
