Nissan Becomes Co-Title Sponsor of RADIOSHACK NISSAN TREK Professional Cycling Team
Nissan North America announced an agreement with LEOPARD s.a. and CSE Pro Cycling, LLC to become co-title sponsor of the professional cycling team that will be racing globally as part of the World Tour.
RADIOSHACK NISSAN TREK consists of 30 professional riders from around the world, including Andy and Frank Schleck, Fabian Cancellara, Andreas Kloden, plus Americans Chris Horner, Matthew Busche and Ben King. The team will compete in an extensive schedule of professional cycling races worldwide in 2012, including the Tour de France, the Tour of California and the USA Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado.
“We built a solid foundation for Nissan through our cycling partnership with the team the past two seasons and are ready to take it to the next level now as one of the title sponsors of RADIOSHACK NISSAN TREK,” said Brian Carolin, senior vice president, Nissan North America. “Our promotional activities tied to major cycling events such as the Tour of California and the Tour de France allows us to connect with millions of fans around the world. We plan to use these events to launch many exciting products here in the United States and around the globe in 2012.” Read more
Warrior Sports and Liverpool Football Club Announced Partnership
Warrior Sports Inc. and Liverpool Football Club announced a deal which sees Warrior become the Club’s Official Kit Supplier. The deal, which will come into play from June 1st 2012, will see Warrior create the Liverpool FC home, away and third kits, as well as their training wear for the next six years.
Owned by Boston based New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc., the move represents the starting point in Warrior Sports’ global football journey partnering with one of the biggest club sides in the history of world football. Warrior Sports recognises the heritage of Liverpool FC and has employed industry experts in design, development, marketing and implementation to ensure that the brand has the best people on hand to support the Partnership.
Richard Wright, General Manager for Warrior Sports, comments: “At Warrior Sports we pride ourselves on high performance and an incredible desire to win. Our Partnership with Liverpool FC, a football institution and recognised brand name across the world, is the perfect fit. Warrior Sports has ventured into football to bring our knowledge of making top level product to a new playing field. We are not the sort of brand that is going to keep our head down. We are here to shake up the world of football and our Partnership with one of the most successful club teams of all time is just the start.” Read more
The Next Generation of Fantasy Sports: The Open Fantasy Platform at CBSSports.com
CBSSports.com announced its award-winning fantasy sports service is opening its doors to third party developers and companies to create apps for their products and services. CBSSports.com’s innovative open Fantasy Platform will represent the first of its kind in the fantasy sports industry.
Six companies, including MLB.com and Bloomberg Sports, have signed on as initial Fantasy Platform partners and will have free and/or premium apps available when CBSSports.com’s Fantasy Baseball product, featuring the new “CBSSports.com App Central,” launches on Jan. 31.
The CBSSports.com Fantasy Platform Development Center is now live for developers and companies to visit and see how their products and services can be shared with millions of highly engaged fantasy sports players. The Fantasy Platform offers developers a comprehensive set of APIs providing access to nearly all the data within CBSSports.com Fantasy Games and everything needed in order to build a customized fantasy app. The Fantasy Platform Development Center is located at: developer.cbssports.com
The Fantasy Platform announcement was made by Jason Kint, Senior Vice President and General Manager of CBSSports.com, at the 2012 Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA) Winter Business Conference in Las Vegas.
“The way people play fantasy sports has dramatically changed over the last ten years with players using a ton more tools and products produced by a growing number of businesses,” said Kint. “Providing outside developers access to our proprietary service will benefit the entire fantasy industry ecosystem, creating additional value for companies, developers and advertisers while consolidating and enhancing the experience for fantasy players.” Read more
How and Why Americans Engage with Winter Sports Brands
Slightly over one in five American adults (21 percent) revealed that they ever participate in any winter sport, according to new research released from IMRE Sports, and conducted on their behalf by Harris Interactive.
Among those who ever participate in winter sports, 47 percent make recommendations to their peers about their favorite winter sports products or brands.
The research also indicated that among those who ever participate in winter sports, 74 percent use social media sites. Interestingly enough, of that 74 percent, 84 percent utilize the platform to follow brands.
Harris Interactive conducted this survey online among 2,292 adult Americans ages 18 and older between December 19 and 21, 2011. The research was spearheaded by the Maryland-based sports marketing agency, IMRE Sports. Read more
PGA TOUR Superstore Expands Into The Midwest
PGA TOUR Superstore announced its plans to open a store in the Chicago area in late spring 2012. The store will be located in Schaumburg at the site of the former Great Indoors store at Golf Road and Meacham Road near Woodfield Mall, the largest mall in Chicagoland.
PGA TOUR Superstore also plans to open a second store in the Chicago metro area during 2012. The location of the second store will be announced at a later date. The addition of these two stores will increase the number of PGA TOUR Superstores nationwide to 14. The two Chicago stores will be the company’s first locations in the Midwest.
“We look forward to bringing our store’s products, services and expertise to golfers and tennis players in Chicagoland, and to being a positive contributor in the community,” said PGA TOUR Superstore President & CEO Dick Sullivan. “Our new customers will quickly see that we are equipped to serve a broad range of golf and tennis players, with an emphasis on offering the industry’s best brands, fitting products to each customer’s unique needs, and providing the broadest array of golf and tennis services. In a nutshell, we make it easy to get in, and stay in, the game. We are particularly excited about expanding to Chicago, which is one of the premier areas in America for golf enthusiasts.” Read more