INDIANAPOLIS---In its continuing effort to enhance growth in collegiate women’s basketball, the NCAA announced that it has reached an agreement with Hawkeye Sports & Entertainment to direct the sport’s marketing efforts for the next three years.

Hawkeye Sports & Entertainment is a division of Hawkeye, a full-service international marketing agency headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

In working with the NCAA, Hawkeye will continue the effort to grow the game of collegiate women’s basketball at a “grass roots” level and positively impact attendance of Division I women’s basketball during the regular season and during the Division I Women’s Basketball Championship.

Recently, the NCAA established a marketing grant program that will be funded by the NCAA beginning in the fall of 2008. The program, which will be administered by NCAA staff and representatives of Hawkeye Sports & Entertainment, will award grants from $15,000 to $100,000 for Division I institutions and conferences for the development and implementation of marketing and promotional plans to increase attendance of Division I women’s college basketball programs.

“Establishing a partnership with the NCAA and women’s basketball is a commitment we will not take lightly,” said Merrill Squires, president and managing partner at Hawkeye Sports & Entertainment. “Many tremendous strides have already been made to enhance attendance and exposure in women’s basketball and we feel with proper navigation, we can help to build the program brand and continue to enhance a product which already has a strong base in the sports world.”

The increased national marketing initiative is a product of discussions that took place within the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Discussion Group, which was chaired by Association President Myles Brand, along with the Division I Women’s Basketball Committee and Division I Women’s Basketball Issues Committee.

“Being able to announce our partnership with an agency like Hawkeye Sports & Entertainment is an exciting day for our game,” said Sue Donohoe, NCAA vice president for Division I women’s basketball. “We have a number of metrics established that we feel will enhance the growth of women’s basketball and we feel Hawkeye will play a major part in helping to drive this attendance growth which is so important for our game.”

The NCAA is a membership-led nonprofit association of colleges and universities committed to supporting academic and athletic opportunities for more than 380,000 student-athletes at more than 1,000 member colleges and universities. Each year, more than 49,000 student-athletes compete in NCAA championships in Divisions I, II and III.

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