Marketplace Roundup

Casino Sponsoring Tonight's Manny Bobblehead Promotion

In L.A., Dylan Hernandez reports Dodgers partner Kaiser Permanente (KP) "dropped its sponsorship" of tonight's Manny Ramirez bobblehead giveaway promotion "soon after Ramirez was issued a 50-game ban" for using a performance-enhancing drug. KP spokesperson Jim Anderson said, "As a health-care organization, we thought it was necessary to pull out of our sponsorship of the promotion when he was suspended." The San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino replaced KP as the sponsor of tonight's promotion (L.A. TIMES, 7/22).

SMOKE SIGNALS: With NASCAR’s Sprint Cup moving to Indianapolis this week, Office Depot and its driver, Indiana native Tony Stewart, are teaming up to donate 5,000 backpacks to nonprofit organizations and schools in the Indianapolis area. The backpacks will be presented to officials tomorrow at an Office Depot location in Indianapolis and coincide with Office Depot’s “Back-to-School Backpack Celebration.” The Office Depot Foundation has been donating backpacks as part of its back-to-school promotion since '01 (Michael Smith, SportsBusiness Journal).

RAISE A PINT: Brewer Carling has reached a three-year deal with the Irish Football Association (IFA) to title sponsor Northern Ireland's top domestic soccer league, now known as the Carling Premiership. The deal is valued at US$131,000 annually, the highest level of investment in the league's history. Carling also will add marketing support (IFA).

ROOM FOR SQUARES: USA TODAY's Jerry Potter notes golfers Lucas Glover and Stewart Cink both used Nike's SQ Sumo2 Tour square driver en route to winning the U.S. Open and British Open, respectively, and Nike is "formulating a plan to take advantage of the recent success." A new ad efforts will "include praise from Nike's golfers as well as an aggressive program to educate the public on the advantages of a square driver." Nike Dir of Product Creation Tom Stites said, "I'm so delighted. Forgive me if I'm gloating" (USA TODAY, 7/22).