Top bidder named for gear-sales pact

FAYETTEVILLE — An intent-to-award letter dated Thursday from the university has named Dyehard Fan Supply as the choice to manage licensed merchandise sales at athletic events and online.

No deal has been signed; contract negotiations are the next step, university spokesman Kevin Trainor said in an email.

The company was created last year by private-equity firm Teall Capital, according to a December statement. Teall Capital describes itself as based in three cities: Winston-Salem, N.C.; Atlanta; and San Francisco.

Dyehard Fan Supply was chosen over bids from Fanatics, which Trainor said currently manages the retail sales, and Game-Day Holdings.

In its request for bids, the university listed $1.21 million in 2016-17 sales for retail shops at athletic venues. The university also listed net online sales of $899,939 for the same year, with the online sales made via a link from the main athletics Web page.

Goals in seeking bids included “substantial merchandise revenue growth for the University,” the bid request document stated. branch.

Kartik Balachandran is using a $154,000 grant from the association to study the progression of a certain type of disease known as calcific aortic valve disease.

The American Heart Association program aims to fund “small-scale research projects related to cardiovascular diseases and stroke,” according to its website, with the grants directed toward projects at schools that have not been major recipients of National Institutes of Health support.