Sport Supply Group, Inc. has been awarded the U.S. Communities Contract to act as the exclusive supplier of sporting goods, physical education equipment and uniforms for the program for the period October 1, 2009 to September 30, 2014. The agreement also includes a provision for two potential extension years.
Adam Blumenfeld, Chairman and CEO of Sport Supply Group, stated: “We are very excited to be chosen as the exclusive supplier of athletic and physical education product to U.S. Communities. They are the largest buying cooperative in the nation for the markets we service. We intend to use the U.S. Communities relationship as the cornerstone of our efforts to service School Districts, States and Cities nationwide and provide the best in both equipment and team uniform products to their constituents. Sport Supply is positioned to provide best in class products, pricing and service to the thousands of existing U.S. Communities participants.
This is a significant new relationship and one we anticipate will drive meaningful, incremental organic growth over the term of the contract. Further, the relationship speaks to our continued efforts at shifting industry share to Sport Supply Group's operating platform.”
U.S. Communities' Government Purchasing Alliance is a nonprofit government purchasing cooperative that assists local and state government agencies, school districts (K-12), higher education, and nonprofits in reducing the cost of purchased goods through pooling the purchasing power of public agencies nationwide. Today more than 37,000 public agencies utilize U.S. Communities' contracts and suppliers to procure more than 1.4 billion dollars in products and services annually. Each month more than 400 new public agencies register to participate. The continuing rapid growth of public agency participation is fueled by the program's proven track record of providing public agencies unparallel value.
Chris Mellis, Director of U.S. Communities, commented: “We are extremely pleased to have Sport Supply Group as our partner going forward as we look to further enhance the quality and breadth of services we offer our program participants. With Sport Supply Group, we can now offer over 22,000 products – expanding not just into athletics and facility management, but team uniforms and apparel. The full breadth of Sport Supply Group's offerings creates a true one stop shop for our participants. Sport Supply's strong commitment and capabilities in the online procurement arena are well aligned with our progressive view of the need to aggregate and streamline public agency purchasing power. We will work in tandem with Sport Supply's 200 direct sales professionals, 3 million catalogs and 40 telesales representatives to service the sports related needs of our school district, city and state constituents.”
