ESPN Names Chuck Beddingfield Managing Director of Charleston Classic
ESPN Regional Television, Inc., a subsidiary of ESPN, has named Chuck Beddingfield as managing director of the Charleston Classic. The college basketball event, now in its third year, will be held Nov. 18-21 at Carolina First Arena.
Beddingfield has 20 years of experience in intercollegiate athletics, with administrative experience at four Division I institutions. He was most recently a senior associate athletic director for external affairs at The Citadel from 2002-07. In 2007, he formed consulting services firm Integrated Capital Solutions in Mount Pleasant, S.C. Last year, Beddingfield served as director of sales for the Charleston Classic, securing numerous new sponsorships.
“Chuck brings a wealth of knowledge to the event and having him involved is a tremendous benefit,” said Clint Overby, senior director of events, ESPN Regional Television. “Charleston is a great fit for this event and having a community leader like Chuck involved really helps in its long-term growth.”
Beddingfield is a graduate of Appalachian State University. He earned a masters degree in education at Iowa State University. Before joining The Citadel, he was an athletic administrator at Oklahoma State, Iowa State and Mississippi State.
“I am looking forward to working with ESPN Regional Television on this first-class event,” Beddingfield said. “The Charleston Classic brings nationwide attention to the Charleston community.”
The 2010 Charleston Classic, a bracket-format tournament, will feature 12 games in three days, Nov. 18, 19 and 21. The Southern Conference (SoCon) will serve as the event’s sponsoring conference for the third straight year.
The field for the third annual Charleston Classic will include Charlotte, The Citadel, East Carolina, George Mason and North Carolina State. The other three teams will be announced at a later date.
Each team will compete in one game per day in a bracket-tournament format. The two teams that remain undefeated throughout will face off in a championship match Sunday, Nov. 21. The University of Miami won the 2009 Charleston Classic, while Clemson won the inaugural event in 2008.
Additional information, including travel packages, can be found on the Charleston Classic’s official Web site:
www.CharlestonClassic.com.
ESPN Regional Television/Event Ownership
The nation’s largest syndicator of collegiate sports programming, ESPN Regional Television (ERT) annually produces more than 1,000 telecasts of sporting events. Programming includes football, basketball, NCAA events, golf and NHRA events accounting for more than 2,200 live and/or original hours of programming. In addition to event ownership, ERT is the production headquarters for ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network; syndication rights-holder and producer of national, regional and local shows for college conferences (e.g. – SEC, BIG EAST, Big 12, Mid-American, WAC).
ESPN Regional Television markets and/or owns several sporting events, including collegiate football events: the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl St. Petersburg; Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl (Fort Worth, Texas); MAACO Bowl Las Vegas; New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque); Papajohns.com Bowl (Birmingham, Ala.); Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl (Honolulu); Texas Bowl (Houston); the MEAC/SWAC Challenge presented by Disney (Orlando, Fla.); and The Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards; collegiate basketball events: the 76 Classic (Anaheim, Calif.); Cancun Governor’s Cup; Charleston Classic (S.C.); DIRECTV SEC/BIG EAST Invitational; ESPNU Road to the Championship (Women; San Antonio); Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic (Honolulu); Old Spice Classic (Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Fla.); O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off (San Juan); SONIC All-College Basketball Classic (Oklahoma City) and BracketBusters; as well as the ESPN National Golf Challenge presented by Callaway. For more information, visit ESPNPlus.com.
