Southwest Drops NFL Sponsorship But Still Buying Ad Time

For the first time since '97, the NFL started its season without Southwest Airlines as a corporate sponsor, although “judging from the first week of game broadcasts,” the Dallas-based discount carrier will continue to buy media from NFL rights holders, according to Terry Lefton in this week’s issue of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. Sources attributed the end of the ten-year relationship to the "escalating price of NFL intellectual property combined with the fact that few of Southwest’s ... football-themed TV ads from GSD&M required that intellectual property."

MASTERCARD LEAVING NHL: Lefton also reports NHL partner MasterCard "is making an exit" after 12 years. While the relationship "had produced some memorable creative," the U.S. side of MasterCard's business "failed to produce meaningful support for years." Lefton notes in Canada, "look for MasterCard to pursue a strategy in line with its NFL team deals" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 9/17 issue).