When potential sponsors of the Buffalo Bills' Canadian expedition gathered last week to learn what's going to be available to them, it was no surprise that interest ran high. The eight-game package at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, spread over five years, is a hot property that is bound to draw sellout crowds, plenty of corporate attention and big television ratings.
What might have been a surprise, though, was the company making the pitch to the advertisers: a small Toronto sports media outfit called Insight Sports.
The Bills' sponsorship deal is a first for the company, which is best known for its digital TV specialty channels devoted to fishing and soccer.
The Bills, who lack corporate relationships in Canada, needed someone who knows the market well, says Kevin Albrecht, the chief executive officer of Insight Sports. And few know the landscape better than Albrecht, who turned IMG Canada into this country's leading sports marketer and once represented such big-name athletes as Wayne Gretzky, Mike Weir and a galaxy of other Canadian stars.
The affable native of Kitchener, Ont., accumulated so much influence that The Globe and Mail ranked him third on its list of Canada's most powerful sports figures in 2004, behind the folks who wiped out the NHL season.
But since late 2006, when Albrecht took the helm at Insight Sports, he has been operating largely under the radar while guiding the company through a remarkable transformation.
"Our model is what ESPN has created," he said, showing just how outsized Insight Sports' ambitions have become. "It's a great model for broadcasters. And I think we can do it in this marketplace."
The U.S. sports cable giant developed an array of networks, websites and other media platforms to meet the interests of dedicated followers of a wide number of sports and has created, sponsored or acquired events to ensure a steady stream of content and advertising, licensing and merchandise revenue.
To that end, Insight Sports has obtained the rights to tournaments and events showcasing curling and other popular sports and has moved into hot new ones, such as video gaming, whose audience is entirely online. It also produces hockey programs and in-stadium entertainment (for the Edmonton Oilers) and is hunting down Canadian sponsors for the Bills' games.
And it's spreading its wings in the international market, where it has applied for a licence to operate its profitable World Fishing Network in Britain. WFN is carried in the United States, but so far on only one system that reaches 14 states, although the company has been approached to bring fishing to satellite radio.
"The Holy Grail for us would be to sign a distribution deal in the States with one of the big four," Albrecht said, referring to U.S. cable and satellite powerhouses Time Warner, Comcast, DirecTV and Echostar.
The company even runs Gretzky's official website and hopes to do the same for other big-name athletes, something it sees as a potentially lucrative earnings generator for both the athletes and itself.
"The common denominator through all of them is a passionate community that follows them and a significant industry behind them," Albrecht said.
The privately held company remains a small fish in a pond filled with dangerous new currents, but Albrecht says he likes it that way. He won't discuss financial numbers, although others in the industry say revenue probably doesn't exceed $30-million to $40-million a year.
It has no majority owner. Larry Tanenbaum's Kilmer Group and MWI & Partners, a Toronto private equity firm, hold close to 80 per cent combined. The rest is in the hands of smaller shareholders, including the company's founders and top managers.
"It's a unique time to be in broadcasting," Albrecht said of the rapid evolution of the industry and the business opportunities this has created.
Being small, "we're able to turn on a dime and react to them quickly."
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Insight Sports holdings
Owns GOLTV (soccer) and WFN (fishing).
20 per cent of NHL Network.
Operates GameTV (game shows, gambling).
Major League Gaming Canada (pro video-gaming).
Grand Slam of Curling.
Manages Gretzky.com.
Owns Aquila Productions (sports producer).
