Alaska Airlines has "signed a multi-faceted sponsorship deal" with the Sharks that will "include naming rights for the SAP Center's club level and designation as the team's official domestic airline," according to Jody Meacham of the SILICON VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL. Terms of the deal "were not announced." The "significance of the deal" is that it is the "fruit of a revamped effort by a hockey team that -- after reaching its first Stanley Cup finals in June -- has doubled its sponsorship staff combined with a major sports marketing push by an airline that has focused on San Jose as its largest sports sponsorship market" after its Seattle HQ. The Sharks said that 23 new sponsorship partners this season are a 31% "increase over last season and represent an average deal of $171,000, up from $118,000 last season." Meacham noted that is despite "losing Fry's Electronics, a $400,000 account." The airline's name will also be on the "ticket check-in kiosks at the arena and it will be the sponsor of the popular 'This is Sharks Territory' campaign." The airline is a "major sports marketing presence in Seattle," where the Univ. of Washington football team "plays on Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium" and its basketball team plays in the Alaska Airlines Arena. The Mariners and Seahawks QB Russell Wilson also have "high-profile deals." Meanwhile, the Sharks said that Alaska "isn't the last deal they'll announce this season." The team's sponsorship strategy has "focused on strategic alliances with partners in a program called Sharks Business Alliance, which incorporates the 85 sponsors with deals of at least $100,000 a year." This winter the Sharks will "charter a plane to the Canadian Rockies ski resort of Banff for 150-200 business alliance executives and their spouses for a few days" for educational meetings and networking (BIZJOURNALS.com, 11/22).
