Sutton Named to National Football Foundation Leadership Hall of Fame

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., July 3, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Football Foundation has named Ben C. Sutton, Jr. to its coveted Leadership Hall of Fame.  Sutton, the founder and Chairman of Teall Capital Partners, is widely recognized as one of the most accomplished entrepreneurs and business leaders in the sports and entertainment industry.

Sutton is the former Chairman and CEO of IMG College and the founder of ISP Sports. His new venture, Teall Capital, is a private equity company based in Winston-Salem, NC, Atlanta, GA, and San Francisco, CA and has an investment portfolio including Dyehard Fan Supply, Riddle & Bloom, Sunshine Beverages, and Tailgate Guys.

Sutton accepted the award during an event in Atlanta benefiting the National Football Foundation. Funds raised from the event will support the National Football Foundation national scholar-athlete programs, including the National Football Foundation's National Scholar-Athlete Awards, the Campbell Trophy and the Hampshire Honor Society.

The National Football Foundation Leadership Hall of Fame recognizes individuals who have achieved high levels of success and displayed influential leadership. Members of the Leadership Hall of Fame must exhibit the qualities of dedication, discipline, determination, and integrity and share a passion for the foundation's mission of building leaders through football.

Past inductees into the Leadership Hall of Fame include Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Arizona Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill, Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Bruin Sports Capital founder and CEO George Pyne and Wasserman Media Group CEO Casey Wasserman.

"It's an incredibly special honor to be recognized by your industry peers," Ben Sutton said. "I am grateful to my colleagues at the National Football Foundation for this award and the recognition of the incredible teams we had at ISP Sports and IMG College who did such magnificent work building the best company in sports!"

"Even more important than its role to recognize executives who have excelled in the sports marketplace, the Leadership Hall of Fame serves as a powerful tool to generate funds for scholarship programs supporting the next generation of leaders," Sutton added.  "The event in Atlanta was a tremendous success and gave us an opportunity to celebrate with old and new friends as we raised money to support the foundation's scholarship program."

Earlier this year, Sutton received the Lifetime Achievement in Sport and Entertainment Award from the University of South Carolina, was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, and was selected by The SportsBusiness Journal and SportsBusiness Daily for its Champions, Pioneers and Innovators in Sports Business award.  Sutton also was recently appointed to the board of the White House Historical Association. 

About Ben C. Sutton, Jr.

Ben C. Sutton, Jr. is founder and chairman of Teall Capital Partners, a private equity company with investments in a portfolio of businesses including Riddle & Bloom (national next-gen marketing agency), Tailgate Guys (national market-leading hospitality company), Sunshine Beverages, and Dyehard Fan Supply (national sports/entertainment merchandising business).

Sutton, a graduate of Wake Forest University and law school, was previously Chairman and CEO of IMG College, which he founded as ISP Sports in 1992, essentially inventing the college media business as it is known today. IMG is the largest college sports company and sports/entertainment sales organization in America (SportsBusiness Journal). In addition to building the core businesses of IMG College into four national market-leading companies, he was largely responsible for the meteoric overall growth of IMG Worldwide, engineering the sale of the company in 2014 for $2.4 billion. IMG was the national market leader in Media, Licensing, Ticketing, and Stadium Seating, working with over 225 universities, conferences, NCAA, and College Football Playoff.

In addition to being named one of the most powerful sports executives in America, Sutton has received numerous distinctions including induction into the North Carolina Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the Wake Forest University Distinguished Alumni award, as well as induction into the North Carolina Sports, National Football Foundation, NACMA and SportsBusiness Journal Champions Halls of Fame. He is a trustee or director at Wake Forest University, White House Historical Association, United States Olympic Committee, Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute, National Football Foundation, and Naismith Basketball Foundation. The Sutton Family Foundation has invested over $40 million in philanthropic causes.

About Teall Capital Partners

Teall Capital is a privately-held set of investments in innovative, high-growth potential lifestyle brands and services. The company's leadership has extensive experience in sports, media, marketing, and entertainment, and the group provides its operating companies deep expertise in a number of disciplines: corporate strategy, organizational management, culture and training, financial strategy, employee operations, recruiting, and expert legal diligence.

Teall Capital is led by Ben C. Sutton, Jr. and an executive management team that built and expanded four national market-leading businesses in the college sports space: IMG College Multi-media, IMG College Seating, IMG College Licensing, and IMG Learfield Ticketing. Teall invests in complementary organizations that can strategically work together to realize greater value, sharing in expertise, thought leadership, and networks.

For more information, please visit TeallCapital.com.  

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SOURCE Teall Capital