El Jimador Tequila Agrees Major MLS Sponsorship

Brown-Forman Corp.’s El Jimador tequila brand has signed a four-year deal to become a major sponsor of Major League Soccer (MLS).

El Jimador will sponsor MLS as well as the US men’s and women’s national teams and the Mexico national team’s annual tour of the United States under the terms of the agreement.

Additionally, the company will have an on-site promotional presence at games and on-field advertising signs at more than 100 televised games each year, while there will also be player appearances at promotional events and a line of co-branded merchandise will be released.

The deal allows Brown-Forman, which also owns Jack Daniel’s, Southern Comfort and Finlandia, to bring any of its tequila brands into the arrangement while El Jimador already holds a sponsorship deal with the league’s Seattle Sounders.

David Wright, vice-president of global sponsorship at Soccer United Marketing, the MLS’ commercial arm, told the Wall Street Journal: “2010 was an incredible year for our sport, particularly with the excitement generated among fans by the World Cup. We think we’re starting to see a watershed swell of interest around our sport.”

Allstate and Anheuser-Busch are among the companies to have recently signed up with Soccer United Marketing, while reports have suggested that PepsiCo has also renewed its partnership.