Mazda North America has signed a one-year deal to become presenting sponsor of the USA Today Sports Active Alliance, the first deal closed by the alliance after it began aggregating commercial rights of independent marathons in '15. In addition to “presented by” entitlement for the series and 15 races, Mazda gets exclusivity in the automobile category and a logo lockup in the deal. The Detroit Free Press/Tallmer Bank Marathon has a preexisting deal with local Chevrolet dealers. Mazda also hopes to provide cars for race participants’ needs in the days prior to races and sponsor a “Mazda Motivational Mile” along the courses, said Bruce Revman, commissioner of the alliance. The deal marks a return to the mass-participatory marathon space for Mazda, which last sponsored the Competitor Group’s Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon series in '14. Revman, a former Competitor Group Senior VP, said the parties negotiated the deal directly, though Garage Team Mazda advised on experiential activation plans. Financial terms were not disclosed, but Revman said last summer a title sponsorship would go in the low seven figures. After first going to market last summer with seven races, the USA Today alliance added eight and now includes events with about 280,000 participants annually. Mazda signage will debut at the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon this weekend. Despite many of the races occurring in or near cities where USA Today owner Gannett Co. Inc. owns local news outlets, media buys are not included in the sponsorship deal, Revman said. “They’re already looking at leveraging races in certain markets with Mazda creative, which we think is great, but we’re not obligating them at all to invest a separate initiative of the media side,” Revman said. The member marathons and USA Today share revenue from any deals done by the alliance.
