MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia Radio Corp. owner John Raese said his company won’t be a part of the rebidding process for WVU’s third-tier media rights, but he asked university president Jim Clements to disqualify IMG College’s bid that Raese called “tainted.”
In a Friday letter to Clements, Raese said the remaining first-round bidders followed procedure and should be re-evaluated. “To say differently, would be an injustice to our company and the other proposers, except IMG College, whose bid in our opinion was tainted by findings of the Attorney General. That bid we believe should be disqualified.”
Read Raese’s complete letter here.
State attorney general Patrick Morrisey this week noted improper communications between athletics director Oliver Luck and WVU Board of Governors chairman Andrew Payne, who has a stake in the West Virginia Media firm that partnered on IMG’s bid proposal. Morrisey also cited Luck’s mid-process configuration of WVU’s evaluating committee. Clements subsequently said Luck will not be a part of the rebidding evaluation team.
Raese encouraged WVU to undergo a re-selection process instead of rebidding.
“Under Luck’s management, WVU has been exposed to the biggest, most embarrassing procurement mess in the school’s history,” Raese wrote.
West Virginia Radio Corp. owns MetroNews and has previously partnered with the school’s Mountaineer Sports Network to broadcast WVU football, basketball and baseball games.