Royals Add Seven New Sponsors For '17, Including Lexus As First In Luxury Car Category

The Royals have signed seven new corporate sponsors and renewed eight others entering the '17 season, a run of business that outpaces the club’s .500 season last year after two straight World Series berths. The Royals continue to be buoyed by historically strong attendance and local RSN ratings that last season were the best in all of MLB. Among the offseason signings are a deal with Lexus that gives the club its first-ever luxury car sponsor; a significantly expanded partnership with Boulevard Brewing that provides the craft brewer use of club marks for the first time; and a renewed deal with Miller Lite that brings the Blue Moon brand into the mix. Royals VP/Marketing & Business Development Mike Bucek said, "Fan affinity for the Royals in our market remains as high as it’s ever been. Expectations are still very high around here, and we’ve been very fortunate to continue to grow our sponsorship base." The club did not detail the aggregate lift in sponsorship revenue, but said this year will represent roughly a 10% increase from last year, and ’17 will be up by nearly 50% from ’14, when it won its first AL pennant since '85. Some of the newly signed deals were also renewals of five-year pacts first struck in ’12, when the Royals played host to the MLB All-Star Game. The run of additional sponsorship deals has created several new areas and physical features at Kauffman Stadium. The Boulevard renewal prompted the installation of a 30-foot replica smokestack near the right field concourse that echoes the one at the brewer’s own K.C. HQ. Blue Moon will be the title sponsor of a new outfield taproom, and Price Chopper’s deal includes entitlement to a right field patio redesigned as a new group space.