Cascade Conference Interim Commissioner Rob Cashell and Dan Hilsendeger, the National Sales Manager of Sports Marketing for Red Lion Hotels Corporation
Cascade Conference and Red Lion Renew Partnership
LA GRANDE, Ore. – The Cascade Collegiate Conference and Red Lion Hotels signed a new multi-year partnership Wednesday.
Cascade Conference Interim Commissioner Rob Cashell and Dan Hilsendeger, the National Sales Manager of Sports Marketing for Red Lion Hotels Corporation, met and finalized details at the CCC office in La Grande.
Financial details of the partnership were not disclosed.
“I am very excited that Dan and Red Lion have agreed to a multi-year partnership with the CCC,” Interim Commissioner Rob Cashell said. “Not only maintaining but expanding on the relationship that former Cascade Conference Commissioner, Dave Haglund, started is a win-win for our membership and for the Red Lion properties.”
Red Lion will continue to be the title sponsor of the Cascade Conference Athlete of the Week. Added to the slate is the title sponsor for the CCC Athlete of the Year awards in all sports. Red Lion will also begin having a presence at future NAIA national championship events hosted by the CCC and member schools. The Cascade Conference and Corban University are hosts for the 2012 and 2013 NAIA men’s golf championships in Salem, Ore. The CCC and Concordia University will again be hosting the NAIA cross country national championships in Vancouver, Wash., in November.
“Red Lion and the Cascade Conference have had a great relationship for the past five years,” Hilsendeger said. “A new agreement with the conference just made sense with how our relationship is and where it can go in the future. When Rob asked me if I wanted to do a new multi-year agreement, it was an easy decision.”
The partnership also announced plans for the inaugural Red Lion Cascade Collegiate Conference/Frontier Conference Challenge. The unique challenge between the conferences will match teams from the CCC and the Frontier in men's soccer, women's soccer, volleyball, men's basketball, women's basketball and cross country in competition.
The events will take place on various weekends beginning in late August through mid-November. All of the activities are slated for Spokane, Wash. The Red Lion properties, the Spokane Sports Commission, the Cascade Conference and the Frontier Conference have come together to offer outstanding competition and showcase NAIA athletics to the Spokane area.
“We’re very excited about the challenge,” Hilsendeger said. “Having the opportunity to bring the schools from the Cascade Conference and Frontier Conference, and especially the NAIA, together to Spokane, a city that does not have NAIA sports, to put on a show is pretty special and we’re very excited about that.”
Red Lion Hotels are full service hotels known for caring service and comfortable accommodations catering to the corporate and leisure traveler. Red Lion offers the amenities any traveler may need to stay comfortable including friendly service, our signature "Stay Comfortable" rooms, full service restaurants and lounges, free high-speed Internet access, fitness centers, meeting and convention facilities and more in a variety of locations throughout nine states and one Canadian Province.
“Red Lion Sports Marketing is new and we’re growing, we’re going to make some mistakes from time-to-time, but we’re hoping to get out there and become a true partner with the schools,” Hilsendeger said. “It’s something that is long-lasting and something that people will grow off of, both schools and Red Lion.”