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Source: The Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore.儲存Oct. 07--For decades, Peggy Hamlin at Premier Travel in Springfield was the University of Oregon athletic department's go-to travel agent, a juggler who helped Duck teams of all sorts fly to away destinations.Hamlin and her assistants loved the Ducks with the passion of an ardent fan, Premier co-owner Lauri Quinby said. And coaches loved Hamlin."They've done an outstanding job," said Craig Pintens, UO athletic department spokesman. "And because they've arranged travel for a lot of our coaches, you really develop a great relationship with the agents."But when it came time for the athletic department to sign what would be its fourth five-year contract with Hamlin's current agency, the UO decided to play the field and chose to go with the Dallas-based Anthony Travel -- agent to the biggest names in college football, including Notre Dame, Texas A???&??� and UCLA."For us, it's a slap in the face to go out of the area. It's been really difficult," Quinby said. "We had to let two of our employees go."The dozen-agent travel center is down to 10. Hamlin and her assistant were the ones let go.Hamlin could not be reached for comment for this article.The athletic department expects to save $30,000 annually under the new contract, a department spokesman said.The Register-Guard asked the UO Public Records Office for copies of the bids for comparison, but officials could only immediately supply the Anthony Travel bid -- and that with the contract price blacked out by the UO.Public Records Officer Lisa Thornton said she could not supply the Premier Travel bid in time for this article because she had not yet asked Premier what information it would like to black out as a trade secret.This is not the first local vs. national contracting issue to arise at the UO. Quinby had a lump in her throat last spring when she read the news that local mom-and-pop apparel makers in Oregon might not be able to continue securing license agreements to make some types of Duck gear.Following the example of Ohio State, Texas and Oklahoma, the UO's office of marketing and brand management considered requiring that apparel licensees guarantee the university $500,000 in royalty payments each year. Such a change would have eliminated some small, Oregon-based licensees -- who'd made Duck gear for decades -- meaning a loss of business to them and a reduction in employment to the state."That didn't give us a fuzzy feeling," Quinby said. "As Oregon becomes a (nationally) known brand, that draws attention from other companies. That's true in a lot of their contracts with different things."It's just too bad when the Ducks are really rolling that local businesses get left out."In August, however, UO officials decided that -- for now -- they would leave apparel licensing as it is.The athletic department, in the meantime, decided after reviewing bids to go with Dallas-based Anthony to handle its $5 million worth of annual team, coach and administrator travel.Anthony Travel was started 24 years ago at Notre Dame and distinguished itself with a tight focus on collegiate sports. It arranges the flights and accommodations for teams as well as travel packages for university officials, boosters and fans.Today, the company has contracts with about 50 schools nationally and stations agents within athletic departments at about half of them. Anthony Travel employs 185 people nationally and has offices in 14 states, according mini storageo company documents.The company handled more than $145 million in university and athletic travel in 2012, according to documents it submitted to the UO."They have an outstanding reputation in the college athletics industry, particularly with a lot of the larger college athletic programs in the country," Pintens said.Anthony Travel will station an agent in a Casanova Center office, Pintens said, and the firm has a 24-hour call center. That's important because travel plans change -- for coaches on recruiting tours, for example -- at weird hours or on weekends, Pintens said.Premier agents were also available for after-hours assistance, he said. "They didn't have a call center necessarily, but they did provide us with great support."In documents submitted to the university, Premier travel said its agents are stationed less than one mile away from the Casanova Center and they can get to campus in a flash. "Since we are locally owned and operated, you have access not only to our agents, but to top management virtually at any time, before, during or after traditional office hours," Premier said.In addition, Premier said it contracts with an after-hours service center, which can make last minute or en route ticketing and accommodation changes.The contract with Anthony Travel will save the athletic department $30,000 a year in service fees, based on the current travel volume, Pintens said.On Friday, Pintens said, the university helped Anthony Travel hire a Eugene woman to serve as the on-site travel agent. A former Premier travel agent will back her up on an on-call basis, he said."When we have an opportunity to save money and provide the type of services we want to provide by having an on-site travel agent -- and receive better travel data -- we're going to take advantage of that," he said.Anthony Travel is the premier athletic travel agency in the country, UO travel manager Laurie Jacoby said."They have lots of bells and whistles. They move lots and lots and lots of athletic teams throughout the country every year," she said.The athletic department makes its contract decisions independent of the university, Jacoby said. For the rest of the university, Premier Travel remains on the list of vetted agencies that departments can use, according to travel office instructions.Premier Travel has one attribute that Anthony Travel Inc. can't afford to have considering all the teams it services -- fanatical team loyalty.The agents at Premier make a "substantial amount" of donations to the university, Quinby said.She is a triple season ticket holder. "Football, basketball, baseball," she said. "We've gone to games for 25 years."The athletic travel contract, Quinby said, has been serviced by a Eugene-Springfield agency for at least three decades. "If they didn't pick us, it would have been nice -- at least -- if they chose an agency in the state and kept the money in Oregon."Business relationships, she said, are different in Eugene-Springfield. "Relative to the big cities -- Los Angeles and such -- our town is based around the university and the sports and the teams."It's so family-oriented. So many people who grew up here are either Ducks or loyal Duck fans -- and eat, breathe and sleep Duck football and basketball and baseball, lacrosse, soccer, all of it."Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Register-Guard (Eugene, Ore.) Visit The Register-Guard (Eugene, Ore.) at .registerguard.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesself storage