The NFL announced this morning that Motorola has become
the official wireless communications sponsor of the league.
Terms of the three-year deal were not announced (NFL).
NFL'S $60M TD RETURN: BRANDWEEK's Terry Lefton puts the
three-year deal at $60M and writes that Motorola "gets
national and local NFL marketing rights for wireless
hardware," including cell phones, pagers and two-way radios,
but the rights are "restricted to hardware, not service."
The company also gets the much-exposed branding on coaches'
headsets. Lefton calls the deal a "big win" for the NFL
after losing Sprint as the telecom sponsor. Motorola "hopes
to develop new" wireless communication systems for use in
and around games and sell hardware bearing NFL logos. The
company is committed to spending a "minimum" of $3M per year
on NFL broadcasts, as well as buying time on the league's
"shoulder" programming. NFL Senior VP/Corporate Sponsorship
Jim Schwebel, on the rest of the telecom category, which
includes long-distance and Internet: "What happens with the
rest of the category is going to be based on what direction
we go in with the Internet." Lefton also reports that
Sprint is "looking to ink as many as" 15 team deals
(BRANDWEEK, 4/12 issue). The SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Andy
Bernstein reports that if the NFL signs a telephone services
sponsor, Motorola "will not be able to run" NFL promos with
that company's competition. Millsport LLC's Andrew
Robinson, on the trend of properties breaking up categories:
"It's kind of the wave right now; [properties] are getting
more money out of the deals by separating the category"
(SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 4/12 issue). In N.Y., Jonathan
Weinbach also puts the deal at $60M over three years and
writes that it shows that the NFL "still can wield
considerable marketing muscle." The league "will attract
about" $140M in sponsorship dollars this year, compared to
"approximately" $125M in '98. The NFL "likely will see
more dollars" from the telecom category than from Sprint's
three-year $24M per-year deal by breaking up the category's
components (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 4/12).
