Marketplace Round-Up

BMW has signed a four-year, US$5.2M deal to sponsor the European Tour’s PGA Championship, which will now be called the BMW Championship. The deal makes BMW the “biggest sponsor” of the European Tour, and the company will continue to sponsor three other golf events: the BMW Int’l Open and the Russian and Asian Opens (REUTERS, 1/18).

BMW’s Torsten Muller-Otvos (c) and Michael Kirsch (r) Join European Tour Exec Dir George O'Grady To Announce Championship Sponsorship

NEW GAME: Last night’s edition of CNBC’s “Closing Bell” examined EA Sports’ new 15-year, $750-850M content and marketing deal with ESPN. CNBC’s Jerry Cobb said while “there’s been talk a big media company may one day buy a major video game company, the deal between (EA Sports) and ESPN suggests that’s not going to happen.” Wedbush Morgan Securities Senior VP/Research Michael Pachter: “For Disney to give away one of its most valuable intellectual properties, which is the ESPN brand, that signals to me that Disney isn’t as serious about entering the video game business as maybe they’ve mentioned at recent conferences.” Cobb added, “Fox has also talked about buying a video game maker, but now the company may choose to follow Disney’s example and partner instead, maybe even with Take-Two — a logical step, say analysts, considering the fierce competition between Fox Sports and ESPN” (CNBC, 1/18).

HEY HEY PAULA: USA TODAY’s Tom Spousta reports 18-year-old LPGA player Paula Creamer has signed with IMG in a deal that is “expected to be announced in the next week” (USA TODAY, 1/19).