BusinessReport.com

If you thought tickets to the BCS Championship Game between LSU and Ohio State were a bit on the pricey side, consider the cost to advertise in the game day program. The published net rate for a full-page, four-color ad in the program was a whopping $39,500, a sum made only slightly more palatable by the inclusion of four tickets to the game. Published asking price for a half-page ad, meanwhile, was $20,000, including two tickets.

As steep as that sounds, what really got the buzz going among local advertisers—many of whom declined to buy space in the publication because of the hefty price tag—was that the New York-based company that publishes the program was hawking several different discounted deals to potential buyers depending, apparently, on what they thought they could squeeze out of them.

In an e-mail to one potential advertiser, Bob Anderson, a national sales director for PSP Sports, wrote that his company was offering a reduced local rate “exclusively to companies based in the great State of Louisiana.” The deal on the table: $15,000 for a full-page ad and two game tickets, which Anderson claimed drew an “overwhelming” response. In a brief telephone interview with Business Report, he explained that the special rate was only offered to local companies “because we know $30,000 is out of their reach.”

Not everyone within the PSP Sports organization was of like mind on that point. Another national sales director with the company, Justin Diaco, pitched to the local companies on his call list a $30,000 deal for a full-page ad plus four game tickets. When response to the offer was anemic, he tried again several days later with an even better deal: A full-page ad for just $12,000, tickets included.

One might suspect PSP Sports was having trouble selling ad space, though that would contradict Anderson’s assertion that response to his deal had been “overwhelming.” But there’s no way of knowing for sure; Diaco declined to comment, and Anderson declined further comment after a brief phone conversation. Neither replied to e-mail requests for information, and several calls to PSP Sports headquarters in New York were not returned.

Veteran buyers in the local ad community were not impressed. They noted that full-page ads could be had for as little as $6,000 when LSU last played for the national title after the 2003 season. And local companies that bought a full-page ad in last year’s Nokia Sugar Bowl program paid just $8,000 and got four tickets on the 50-yard line.

But more offensive than the inflated price tag was the sales M.O.

“This tells you everything you need to know about the way this company does business,” notes one veteran ad exec. “They’re slicing and dicing their client list and trying to find out how much they can squeeze out of them.”

Stations hope to cash in

But there is money to be made from the Jan. 7 game, and one company that’s hoping to capitalize on it is the owner of WGMB, which will carry the game. The local Fox affiliate and its NBC sister station, WVLA, have produced dozens of hours of game-related and LSU football programming. Both stations began airing the features during their newscasts in mid-December, and both will run back-to-back specials all weekend before the game.

“We see this as the most important product we will have this year—and we have the Olympics,” says Steve Pruett, CEO of Communications Corp of America which owns the two stations.

It’s a big deal financially, as the stations—particularly Fox—have a tremendous opportunity to get premium rates for air time before, during and after the game. But it’s also a chance for both stations to promote their fledgling newscasts, which launched in 2007. WVLA’s 5, 6 and 10 p.m. shows and WGMB’s news at 9 p.m. have been slow to catch on in the market, and the game presents a golden opportunity to attract new viewers.

“This is going to be rated higher than the Super Bowl,” Pruett says. “There won’t be anyone in Baton Rouge not watching this.”