Chinese Super League club Hangzhou Greentown FC "signed major sponsorship deals" with three tech manufacturing giants. The club, founded in '98, launched the deals with Toshiba China, Toshiba Air-conditioning and Panasonic Jiele ahead of the upcoming CSL season, which begins next month. Financial details of the deal "have yet to be disclosed." The club is financed by real estate group Greentown China co-Founder & President Song Weiping (SOCCEREX, 2/29).
BIG INVESTMENT: True Corp. and ThaiBev are investing more than 180M Thai baht ($5M) to host the True Thailand Classic 2016, the country's largest professional sporting event with the highest cash prize. The event is tri-sanctioned by the European Tour, Asian Tour and Thailand PGA event which will attract professional golfers from around the world to battle for the $1.75M prize fund. The tournament is a co-operation between the public and private sectors which are True, Chang Beverages, Sports Authority of Thailand, Black Mountain Golf Club, Charoen Pokphand Group, Bangkok Bank Plc., Toyota Motor Thailand, and Thai Airways Int'l. The tournament will be from March 10-13 at Black Mountain Golf Club in Hua Hin, Prachuab Khiri Khan province (Asian Tour).
BRIEFLY ...
Alfardan Premier Motors Co. renewed its partnership with the Qatar Total Open int'l tennis tournament. Alfardan will be the event's official transport provider for tennis players and officials for the sixth consecutive year (GULF TIMES, 2/28).
Polish second division football team Pogon Siedlce signed a sponsorship deal with steel manufacturer Valmont Poland. The firm, which specializes in steel supporting structures "such as lighting masts for stadiums," is the Polish entity of global company Valmont Industries Inc. As part of the deal, Valmont will construct four 40m high floodlight masts at the club’s Municipal Stadium (SOCCEREX, 2/29).
Triathletes Andreas and Michael Raelert will partner with Japanese tech firm Pioneer during the '16 season (Raelert-Brothers).
PR firm
Burson-Marsteller acquired a majority stake in int'l sports consulting firm TSE Consulting. The consulting firm will become a fully integrated part of the Burson-Marsteller network (
Burson-Marsteller).
EPL side Everton signed a deal to bring an official tire partner to Goodison Park. The Blues agreed to a tire sponsorship with Avon Tyres for the remainder of the current season and the '16-17 campaign. Avon will have a presence within the stadium on matchdays to increase brand awareness in the U.K. market (Everton).
