Centre gets big return on debate investment

Posted: Thu 4:23 PM, Oct 18, 2012

DANVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Centre College officials say their moment in the national political spotlight was worth the Kentucky school's investment in hosting last week's vice presidential debate.

Centre spokesman Michael Strysick tells The Advocate-Messenger (http://bit.ly/QsopXG ) the publicity value of the attention was at least four times more than the initial cost.

The newspaper reports the school reportedly spent about $3.3 million to put on the event.

Strysick says there have been more than 10,000 media hits since the debate was announced nearly a year ago. The media presence in Danville for the debate was as large as the school anticipated.

The Commission on Presidential Debates says 3,236 media personnel representing 1,542 organizations were credentialed.

Centre works with a marketing company to assess the return the school gets on its advertising spending.

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