Choice Hotels Joins Sun Belt Conference

SILVER SPRING, MD—The Sun Belt Conference and Choice Hotels International have entered into a three-year agreement that makes Choice Hotels the official hotel partner of the league and presenting sponsor of the Sun Belt Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments through 2005. Under the terms of the deal, Choice Hotels will provide the Sun Belt and its member institutions with a centralized number for hotel reservations and discounted room rates at more than 3,400 properties throughout the U.S. and Canada. The agreement will be promoted exclusively to league athletic directors and coaches, whose teams generate approximately 15,000 hotel room nights per year. “We are thrilled to have Choice Hotels International join the Sun Belt corporate family,” said Wright Waters, Sun Belt Conference commissioner, in a prepared statement. “We look forward to a long and meaningful relationship with Choice Hotels, and we appreciate the company‚s interest in the Sun Belt and our 13 member institutions,” he said. As part of the partnership, Choice Hotels will receive significant television exposure in the Sun Belt‚s football and basketball packages with ESPN Regional Television, radio exposure, signage and exposure on the Sun Belt Conference website. Choice Hotels International is one of the world’s largest lodging franchisors, marketing more than 5,000 hotels open or under development in 46 countries under the Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Clarion, Sleep Inn, Econo Lodge, MainStay Suites and Rodeway Inn brand names. The Sun Belt Conference is an 18-sport league in its 27th year of existence, and its member institutions include the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Arkansas State University (Jonesboro), University of Denver, Florida International University (Miami), University of Idaho (Moscow), University of Louisiana at Lafayette, University of Louisiana at Monroe, Middle Tennessee State University (Murfreesboro), New Mexico State University (Las Cruces), University of New Orleans, University of North Texas (Denton), University of South Alabama (Mobile) and Western Kentucky University (Bowling Green). The 2003 Sun Belt Conference Men‚s and Women‚s Basketball Tournaments will be held March 6 through 11, at Western Kentucky. The 2004 event will also take place at Western Kentucky, and the 2005 tournament will be played at North Texas.