Van Wagner Sports and Entertainment (VWSE) and Longwood University announced in a Friday press release a long-term partnership naming VWSE as the university’s exclusive partner and sales agent for athletic multimedia rights as well as select campus-wide strategic business partnerships.

University officials cited in the release that as part of the agreement, VWSE Collegiate Services Division will provide Longwood with a local team that will be dedicated to representing the university in the marketplace for partnership opportunities that could include exposure with Longwood fans, students, employees, alumni and other related constituents on a year-round basis. The release stated that VWSE will work with university leadership to create a unique platform to provide this access on a year-round basis as well as explore opportunities to drive business relationships that benefit the business community, the university and its direct and indirect constituents. 

“Longwood University is thrilled to enter into such an impactful partnership with Van Wagner,” Longwood President W. Taylor Reveley IV said in the release. “This is a venture that will allow Longwood to grow through expanded resources and additional exposure for our athletics department and ultimately provide better opportunities for our student-athletes while allowing us to enhance our university-wide mission to develop citizen-leaders.”

Longwood Director of Athletics Troy Austin noted in the release that “this is a transformative partnership for Longwood athletics, one that will allow us to elevate our department in several key areas. With Van Wagner on board, we are very much looking forward to expanding our reach and resources, all in an effort to enhance the student-athlete experience and boost the impact Longwood athletics has on the university as a whole.”

The agreement comes as Longwood enters its 12th year as a fully-fledged Division I institution, having began that transition in 2004-05 and received full Division I certification in 2007-08, officials said in the release. They added that the Lancers are members of the Big South Conference in all sports except field hockey, which competes in the Mid-American Conference.

The release cited that the Lancer softball team is a standard-bearer for the university as it has won four of the past five Big South Championships and advanced to four NCAA Regionals. Also having advanced to championship games since Longwood joined the Big South in 2012-13 are the Lancer women’s basketball, men’s soccer and women’s soccer squads.

As a partner with VWSE, Longwood joins several peer Division I institutions that have similar partnerships with the national firm, as well as the Big South Conference, the release noted.

“Our team looks forward to this innovative, new partnership with Longwood University which has been developed to enhance university-wide strategic initiatives to drive revenue to both athletics and the campus community as a whole,” VWSE Executive Vice President Mike Palisi said in the release. “President Reveley’s vision to deliver a broad campus-wide approach for sponsorship development will maximize value to both the Lancers and the business community. It is an honor to represent this great university and work directly with Director of Athletics Troy Austin and his team on this important partnership.”