BMW the Official Luxury Automobile of Big Ten Conference

BMW of North America has announced a partnership with the Big Ten Conference, the oldest Division I college conference in the U.S., to become the official luxury automobile of the 2011-2012 seasons covering football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and Olympic sports programs.

Though largely a marketing effort by the luxury brand, BMW will create vehicle displays at selected events and include a Preferred Parking Promotion for BMW owners, referring to reserved parking access for several Big Ten events including the football championship game and men’s basketball tournament.

“The Big Ten is a great conference and home to some of the country’s top universities,” said David Lee, Sales and Marketing Manager, Central Region, BMW of North America. “Big Ten schools pride themselves on academic excellence and we look forward to working together to make this partnership a success.”

As part of the agreement, BMW signage and messaging will be prominently featured at Big Ten arenas, in scoreboard promotions during live events including the championship football game, both men’s and women’s basketball tournaments and the baseball tournament, as well as in commercial spots during televised events throughout the coming season.

The Big Ten sponsors 25 official conference sports, 12 for men and 13 for women, including 298 teams fielding more than 9,500 student-athletes competing for Big Ten Championships. Last year, Big Ten schools claimed six national team championships with titles for Northwestern women’s lacrosse, Ohio State synchronized swimming and men’s volleyball, Penn State women’s volleyball and wrestling plus Wisconsin women’s ice hockey. In academic achievement, the Big Ten leads all conferences with the highest number of ranked graduate school programs among the top 25, according to U.S. News and World Report in 2011.

“Much like the student-athletes of the Big Ten Conference, BMW is a brand dedicated to the highest levels of performance,” said Scott Bailey, General Manager, Big Ten Sports Properties, a property of Learfield Sports. “We couldn’t think of a better group to work with and are looking forward to building a great relationship together.”