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Real Salt Lake in a jersey deal with XanGo
USA - 20 November, 2006
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Major League Soccer club Real Salt Lake signed a multimillion-dollar contract with XanGo, a Utah based dietary supplement juice company. Real Salt Lake is now the first major U.S. sports club to display a sponsor's name on the front of its jersey.
XanGo, which sponsored Real Salt Lake's exhibition match against namesake Real Madrid in August, will pay between USD 4 million and USD 5 million for the four-year deal, an anonymous MLS source told the Associated Press.
A formal announcement is expected to be made at the company's annual convention in Salt Lake City.
"I'm not sure this can happen in any other sport," said Dave Checketts, Real Salt Lake club owner. "You can't stop the action in soccer. The name on the uniform is extremely valuable, and I really support our league doing it."
The RSL is a small deal compared to football giant English Manchester United signing a four-year contract with insurance company, AIG, to put its company name on the club's shirts for approximately USD 25 million.
"The interesting thing is this is an envelope they're pushing domestically, but that's already open internationally," said Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon. "So it's not all that revolutionary. Credit MLS for being in a position to take advantage of a sports marketing vehicle that's available everywhere else in the world."
The XanGo name will be inscribed in capital block letters across the chest of the club's home and away shirts, replacing the words Real Salt Lake but the club's crest will remain in the upper left side of the shirt.
A few MLS clubs have sponsors' names on the back of its jerseys above the belt line, which the league negotiated for, but RSL's deal is the first where the club did the negotiating.
The sponsorship started in the MLS when Austrian energy drink company Red Bull purchased the Metro Stars just before the start of the season last March.
The company changed the club's name to the New York Red Bulls and put the company's logo, charging bulls, across the front of the shirt.
"I think our fans will be supportive of it," said Checketts. "They want the team to succeed ... I don't see any sort of commercial backlash."
XanGo, which sponsored Real Salt Lake's exhibition match against namesake Real Madrid in August, will pay between USD 4 million and USD 5 million for the four-year deal, an anonymous MLS source told the Associated Press.
A formal announcement is expected to be made at the company's annual convention in Salt Lake City.
"I'm not sure this can happen in any other sport," said Dave Checketts, Real Salt Lake club owner. "You can't stop the action in soccer. The name on the uniform is extremely valuable, and I really support our league doing it."
The RSL is a small deal compared to football giant English Manchester United signing a four-year contract with insurance company, AIG, to put its company name on the club's shirts for approximately USD 25 million.
"The interesting thing is this is an envelope they're pushing domestically, but that's already open internationally," said Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon. "So it's not all that revolutionary. Credit MLS for being in a position to take advantage of a sports marketing vehicle that's available everywhere else in the world."
The XanGo name will be inscribed in capital block letters across the chest of the club's home and away shirts, replacing the words Real Salt Lake but the club's crest will remain in the upper left side of the shirt.
A few MLS clubs have sponsors' names on the back of its jerseys above the belt line, which the league negotiated for, but RSL's deal is the first where the club did the negotiating.
The sponsorship started in the MLS when Austrian energy drink company Red Bull purchased the Metro Stars just before the start of the season last March.
The company changed the club's name to the New York Red Bulls and put the company's logo, charging bulls, across the front of the shirt.
"I think our fans will be supportive of it," said Checketts. "They want the team to succeed ... I don't see any sort of commercial backlash."
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