TSM, NAME enter breakthrough live event partnership

The two companies that have changed the communications and live-event landscapes are pairing up to expand each other's horizons.

Townsquare Media, Inc. has reached terms to purchase North American Midway Entertainment (NAME) for approximately $75.5 million. NAME retains its management system within Townsquare as part of the media company's Live Events division.

"We are excited to partner with NAME's management team and add NAME's market leading mobile amusement parks to our Live Events portfolio," said Steven Price, Townsquare's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, in a prepared statement.

"Nearly half of NAME's current events are within 100 miles of a Townsquare market and fit squarely within our core stated strategy of providing affordable, family-friendly entertainment content," Price said.

NAME, established in 2004, maintains its corporate headquarters in Farmland, Indiana. According to its web site, the company has a collection of more than 200 state-of-the-art rides, supplying them along with games and food to about 150 festivals in 132 communities in 20 states and four provinces of Canada, reaching an estimated 15 million people each year.

The firm services many of North America's largest fairs and expositions, including the Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Kentucky, South Carolina and Miami-Dade State Fairs, the Eastern States and Canadian National Expositions, CalgaryStampede, and K-Days Edmonton.

The pairing gives NAME easy reach to Townsquare markets in Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Alabama, Texas, Louisiana and Massachusetts.

For NAME President Dan Huston, the alliance validates the company's vision since its inception.

"Our goal has always been to grow North American Midway Entertainment, to be one of the best, to take it to the next level of the carnival industry," Huston said. "I would attribute a lot of our success to the wonderful people we have in our company."

Huston views NAME's presentation skills and Townsquare's reach as the means to unprecedented opportunity for family-oriented activities. "What they do with their radio stations and search engines...it will be a vast wealth of information between the two teams that will roll us into something that no one else has to offer."

Additionally, Huston anticipates bringing NAME's attractions to parts of the country that haven't experienced them to this point, including New Jersey. "That's another thing that excites us," Huston said. "In the areas where they are, that we have wanted to break into, Townsquare will allow us to do that."

But perhaps most important to Huston is the ability to enhance Townsquare's commitment to family entertainment. "We've been in some communities, for charities and different organizations, for 40 years," Huston said. "They've watched my children grow up. We want every customer to be happy and we go to great extents to do that. Customer service is right up at the top."

Townsquare's approximately 500 annual family-friendly live events reach nearly a million people per year, with emphasis on music, athletic and lifestyle events, and consumer and trade expos.

Among its signature events are the WE Fest, the world's largest country music and camping festival; the Insane Inflatable 5K, an obstacle race series mushrooming in popularity; and America On Tap, the only nationwide craft and premium beer festival in the US.