Tennessee’s only GLBT rugby football club, the Nashville Grizzlies, will partner with Out & About Newspaper, naming it an exclusive media sponsor for the team.
The Nashville Grizzlies RFC is a USA Rugby Division III club, open to men ages 18 to 50. The team welcomes new players, gay and straight, experienced, new to rugby or even new to organized sports.
"Out & About Newspaper has been the source of information in the Nashville GLBT community for more than a decade," said Todd Shelton, president of the Nashville Grizzlies. “It’s a natural fit for the rugby club as we look to broaden awareness of the team in the Middle Tennessee area."
Out & About Newspaper (O&AN) is Tennessee’s largest GLBT monthly publication, and the only one to distribute more than 15,000 copies across the state, including Middle Tennessee Kroger and Harris Teeter stores.
The relationship, valued at more than $15,000 annually, will provide Grizzlies Rugby a monthly spotlight in the print publication as well as online opportunities to recruit players and bring better awareness of the team and its educational and community related efforts. O&AN will feature exclusive behind the scenes access and coverage of the Grizzlies.
O&AN will be the exclusive media sponsor for the Nashville Grizzlies Rugby team, and separately, an exclusive GLBT media sponsor for the annual Grizzlies Red Dress Rampage benefit event.
“We have long supported the Nashville Grizzlies and we’re excited to broaden our relationship with this exceptional community organization,” said Jerry Jones, publisher of O&AN. “We’re constantly looking for ways to give back to a community that has now supported us for ten years.”
In addition to the Nashville Grizzlies, O&AN has also provided support to other non-profits such as the Nashville Humane Association, Nashville Cares, Nashville Pride, Knoxville Pride, Memphis Pride, Dance Theater of Tennessee, Nashville GLBT Chamber of Commerce, Tennessee Equality Project, Human Rights Campaign, Nashville Black Pride, OutCentral, PFLAG and many others.
Earlier this year O&AN was named the presenting sponsor of 'Girl on Girl Comedy & Revue'. The show is a comedy series featuring the best regional female and GLBT comedians and performers. It is the longest running comedy and variety show in Music City, and it’s the only show of its kind in town, that caters to not only a female audience but the GLBT community conjointly.