The next time you step onto a basketball court at the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center, you could have a chance to win a brand new car.
This year, for the first time, Brown's intramural flag football and five-on-five basketball programs are being sponsored by American Collegiate Intramural Sports, a subsidiary of American College Marketing that sponsors collegiate intramural sports programs and promotes products from Pontiac, Gold Bond, Philips and Old Spice, as well as Microsoft's XBox at college campuses.
In exchange for the opportunity to market to intramural sport programs - "the number one extracurricular activity on (college) campuses," according to ACIS Vice President John Meinke - ACIS provides member schools with free product samples from its corporate partners and even monetary grants for schools that complete necessary requirements. For fulfilling these requirements during the fall flag football season, Brown received $250 - which will go to improve the intramural program, said Dianna Clauss, intramural and facilities coordinator.
ACIS also gives participating schools t-shirts for intramural referees and team champions. The shirts are emblazoned with the school's logo on one side and corporate logos on the other.
"It becomes a win for everybody," Meinke said. "Sponsors win because they get exposure. ... Students win because they get a lot of free giveaways ... and schools win because they get more programs for their students and a chance to improve the programs they offer on a daily basis."
Participating schools must fulfill several stipulations to receive ACIS sponsorship, Meinke said. They must take photos of staff members distributing the products and putting up banners with the sponsor's logos on them and give students product surveys.
ACIS's 250 member schools had a total student population of 2.7 million. The other Ivy League schools sponsored by ACIS are Columbia, Cornell and Princeton universities and Dartmouth College.
At Brown, Clauss thinks the ACIS program is "a great deal."
"It's a great opportunity for students and companies to sample free products," she said. "People are more than happy to take a free sample."
Clauss said this semester the athletic department has been distributing free Gold Bond foot powder samples and entry forms to win a Pontiac car at the front desk of the OMAC. Last semester, the intramural department gave away samples from Old Spice and Philips. Several intramural "Athletes of the Week" were awarded $100 Philips Norelco razors, Clauss said.
Despite the corporate nature of ACIS, Clauss said she has heard no complaints from Brown students, many of whom have been outspoken about their discontent with large corporations such as Wal-Mart.
Two students exercising at the OMAC Wednesday evening expressed guarded approval for the corporate sponsorship of intramural sports.
Jorge Rodriguez '08, who plays intramural soccer and softball, said he had not heard of the corporate sponsorship, but said that it is "not a terrible thing."
"As long as it sticks to intramurals and stays small-scale," it is fine, Rodriguez said. "When it gets to the point that University Hall is covered with Pontiac ads, then it gets bad."
But Rodriguez added that it was important that the companies involved do not "have a shady past." He mentioned Coca-Cola's alleged intimidation of Columbian unions as an example.
Natacha Meyer '08 was also surprised to find out about the corporate sponsorship of the intramural programs, but said it could be beneficial to both sponsors and students.
"Whether the (corporate sponsorship) is positive or negative depends on the organizations and their relationship to the school," Meyer said. "It's positive to get the extra funding and it could be a symbiotic relationship."
