CAA Sports Sells 14 Sponsorships For World Football Challenge

CAA Signs 14 Sponsors For WFC, Including  SpongeTech, Volkswagen, Bridgestone

CAA Sports has "sold 14 sponsorships and more than 240,000 tickets" to the six-game World Football Challenge exhibition series, according to Tripp Mickle of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. CAA expects to sell "more than 300,000 tickets to the six games," which began Sunday in Palo Alto and end this Sunday in Foxborough. All of the matches are "being shown on ESPN, which is covering production costs and sharing advertising revenue with CAA." Sponsors of the event include State Farm, Volkswagen, Bridgestone, Stanley Tools, Lucas Oil, SpongeTech, Verizon, Burger King, Aaron's (furniture), O'Reilly Auto Parts, Logic Wireless, 7-Eleven, Anheuser-Busch and EA Sports. Sponsors receive "full-board signage during games, 30-second spots on ESPN and clock wraps during game telecasts." CAA Sports marketing exec Paul Danforth "led the sales effort" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 7/20 issue).

SOCCER MOVEMENT: SI.com's Greg Lalas wrote there is a "movement afoot" in the U.S. for a growing "soccer consciousness." The "surest evidence" is the "calendar of international friendlies taking place here this summer -- and the reaction they've been getting (and will continue to get)." Qwest Field drew a standing-room-only crowd of 65,289 for Saturday's Chelsea-Sounders FC exhibition, and more than 30,000 fans attended Sunday's Club America-Inter Milan game at Stanford Stadium, the opening game of the World Football Challenge. Lalas wrote part of the movement is driven by the "mood swing brought on by" the U.S. team's run to the Confederations Cup final. However, it "comes down to the football." Lalas: "Simply put, the MLS teams are better than they used to be, and their fan bases are more ingrained than before" (SI.com, 7/20).