Major League Soccer (MLS) commissioner Don Garber revealed yesterday, February 15, that newcomers to the league and second Canadian representative, the Vancouver Whitecaps are leading the way in terms of sponsorship revenue ahead of the 2011 season.

According to the Vancouver Sun, Garber stated: “The total value of Whitecaps sponsorships signed so far outpaces every other franchise in the league – even New York and Los Angeles.”

Garber added: “Even with Los Angeles and its stadium and David Beckham, the largest sponsorship base is here in Vancouver.” This is down, in the main part, to major tie-ups of recent times including signing a lucrative jersey sponsorship deal with Bell last summer and since adding deals with BMO, EA Sports and Labatt.

Garber stated that the Bell sponsorship is “one of the richest sports sponsorship deals in North America,” noting that the deal “doesn’t involve television advertising or other media – just a pure rights fee.”

 

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Paul Barber – Chief Executive Officer, Vancouver Whitecaps FC is a member of iSportconnect

 

After a disappointing start to the Bundesliga season, which saw former England national team manager Steve McLaren sacked last week, German soccer club Wolfsburg have signed a sponsorship deal with alloy wheel manufacturer Borbet.

The news comes as a timely boost after the club appointed Pierre Littbarski as manager, and the deal represents a fourth-tier partnership with the club.

Under the terms of the agreement TV-visible perimeter advertising and two “Cam Carpets” at one end of the pitch at the team’s home Volkswagen Arena will be installed in what is the highest-profile sponsorship ever agreed by Borbet in their 130-year history.

A deal, negotiated by IMG, has been reached between Soccer United Marketing (SUM) and insureance firm Allstate, with the latter becoming the official insurance sponsor of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the US National men’s and women’s sides.

Under the terms of the agreement a four-year renewal has been agreed with Mexico’s national team for its friendly matches on U.S. soil.

Although financial details were not released, according to sportsbusinessdaily, sources estimate that the deal could be “in the eight-figure range”. MLS has been without an insurance partner since for the last eight years, when New York Life concluded a four-year deal.

Allstate Senior Marketing Manager Karen Uhler said: “We are casting a wider net. We’ve had a great track record with the Hispanic audience and it’s time to grow our involvement with the sport”

Sports apparel brand Under Armour secured a deal yesterday, February 14, to become the official performance footwear supplier of Major League Baseball (MLB) for the 2011 season.

The deal has been confirmed as a “multi-year” agreement despite financial details being withheld. The terms will see Under Armour awarded with the rights to produce and distribute the MLB logo on the cleats of its footwear, as well as obtaining the rights to display the logo in its advertising.

The brand will also receive exclusive and prominent branding at the MLB All-Star game under the new deal which shows a significant step forward for the brands sponsorship portfolio.

However, the deal does not mean that MLB baseball players will not be able to wear any brand of cleats, as in Reebok’s deal with the National Football League (NFL).

Jessica Ennis, World and European heptathlon champion, is one of six British athletes (along with cyclist Lizzie Armitstead, hurdler William Sharman, middle/long distance runner Shelly Woods and Paralympian runners Stef Reid and Richard Whitehead) who BP is supporting in their role as Official Oil and Gas Partner and a Sustainability Partner for the London 2012 Games.

BP’s support for the athletes will include fuel for their cars and coaches as they train, compete and prepare for London 2012. Additionally as the Official Carbon Offsetting Partner, BP will help the athletes to leave a smaller carbon footprint than their fellow competitors.

BP’s partnership director for London 2012, Mike Sharrock stated: “We’re delighted and proud to support such an incredible group of athletes, all of whom are aiming to compete and to achieve outstanding results in the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

Jessica Ennis added: “I am learning so much about sustainability from the team at BP. Being made aware of my own carbon footprint and exploring ways to reduce it has made me so much more conscious of the need for us all to be more tuned into ways we can help protect the environment we live in. It has also been good to understand what offsetting my carbon footprint might look like. To know that BP will be supporting projects that are beneficial to the environment as a way of offsetting mine and my fellow athletes’ carbon footprint is brilliant.”

Team Kochi, a franchise of cricket’s Indian Premier League (IPL) has signed its first sponsor in Italian sports apparel brand Lotto according to Kochi Cricket Pvt Ltd chairman Mukesh Patel.

In an interview with SportzPower Patel claimed that the franchise were in negotiations with a number of advertisers with regards to shirt sponsorship stating: “We are in negotiations with several corporates.”

The chairman also confirmed that the franchise, currently without a logo, is set to unveil their team identity soon having gone through presentations from various agencies, adding: “We will unveil our new logo in the next few days.”

Queried as to where will the franchise play its home matches Patel said that it was up to the BCCI to decide, at the same time affirming that the matches will be played in Kochi, “That is what we have been told till now,” he said adding, “That is BCCI’s discretion, we haven’t got anything in writing from them (BCCI).”

English Premier League soccer giants Manchester United have announced an agreemnet with express and logistics company DHL to become the club’s official logistics partner.

The contract will run for a duration of three years in which DHL will undertake a range of logistics services on behalf of Manchester United and also work with the Manchester United Foundation to improve the lives of vulnerable young people in the local community. 

DHL Express (UK & Ireland) chief executive officer, Phil Couchman stated: “By partnering with Manchester United we have teamed up with a brand whose international footprint mirrors our own. A major part of our business is to help businesses grow by offering them an efficient and effective international offer.

“The way that Manchester United has grown from humble beginnings formed by a group of railway workers into a worldwide brand with 333 million followers shows how small businesses can emerge into world leaders.”

The KNCB (Royal Netherlands Cricket Board) has signed on Amul, India’s market leader in dairy products and also its largest exporter of dairy products, for the upcoming International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup.

Although financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, the deal is known to be the largest international event sponsorship deal in the KNCB’s history. Amul’s investment will entail more than just supporting the Dutch team and includes KNCB’s “development programmes beyond the World Cup”.

As part of the sponsorship agreement, the branding of Amul Butter will appear on the main sleeve of the playing kit as well as full coverage on the training apparel throughout the World Cup.

Richard Cox, KNCB chief executive, commented: “I am delighted we have been able to bring Amul on board for the World Cup and to showcase their brand over the competition. It is also heartening to note that the level of their investment will extend not just to supporting the team but also allow us to invest in some key areas of the KNCB most notably our development programmes beyond the World Cup. 

“Finances are tight at the moment and with ICC scrutinising all of the countries in World Cricket it is vital that we diverse our revenue streams and this deal does just that.”

Formula One racing team McLaren has extended its long-standing partnership with ExxonMobil for another five years after a deal was announced yesterday, anesthetist February 10, just over a month before the start of the 2011 season.

The deal represents the 17th year of partnership between the company and team – a record for a team and an oil company in Formula One.

Financial details were not fully disclosed but based on previous partnerships between the two the deal is likely to have a value, once the many elements are taken into account, of at least US$35 million a year.

As well as continuing to supply fuel to the team, through its Mobil 1 brand, ExxonMobil will continue to play an active part in developing new solutions and what the team described as ‘next-generation lubricants for the engine and gearbox’. It also supplies a range of lubricants and greases in the McLaren Technology Centre, the team’s Woking base in the United Kingdom, and products for use in the team’s transporters.

In a change to the previous contracts between the two, there will be an increasing focus on business to consumer activation with Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, the team’s drivers, thought likely to star in advertising campaigns as they do for another of the team’s sponsors Santander. Previously ExxonMobil has activated its sponsorship to a business to business audience.

Vice president of global marketing for ExxonMobil Lubricants and Petroleum Specialties Company, Nigel Searle stated: “We view the technology partnership with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes as a high-return investment that helps drive the global growth of the Mobil 1 franchise, and we look forward to continuing our successful collaboration.”

Ron Dennis, the executive chairman of the McLaren Group, said the extension reflected the team’s loyalty to key partners, adding: “The success and longevity of these relationships send a clear message that working with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes offers a consistently impressive return on investment, not only in terms of the marketing value of our success on track, witnessed by hundreds millions of people worldwide, but also in terms of measurable results from the targeted B2B and B2C campaigns we orchestrate in close collaboration with our partners.”

Spanish soccer giant Barcelona, is to drop the UNICEF logo from the front of its shirts at the end of this season, to be replaced by the name of its new Qatari sponsor.

Barcelona is the most well-renownd of a small group of soccer clubs in the world not to have a corporate logo on its shirts, instead displaying the name of the United Nations Children’s Fund, for which it pays the organisation US$2.03m a year.

However, last month the club agreed a record five-year sponsorship deal with Qatar Sports Investment worth $40.57m a season and will have ‘Qatar Foundation’ on the front of its shirts from July 1.

Barcelona vice-president Javier Faus stated: “It has been decided that the Qatar Foundation logo will go on the front of the shirt, on the breast.

“In the end, there will be only two words – Qatar Foundation – in yellow. UNICEF will go on the back underneath the player’s name.

“We continue to have significant structural problems, which we have been burdened with for some years, but which are our structural problems now and which we have to deal with.

“We have solved some of them with the Qatar Foundation sponsorship deal but we still have many challenges ahead.”

Faus was unsure as to whether the UNICEF logo would be allowed to appear on shirts worn in the UEFA Champions League, but added: “What we can guarantee is that every FC Barcelona shirt that is sold around the world will have the UNICEF logo on the back.”