CONCACAF signed a five-and-a-half-year deal with Soccer United Marketing to market and service the confederation’s worldwide sponsorship rights. SUM, which the confederation said was selected following a five-month RFP process circulated to 24 firms, will now represent the rights for CONCACAF’s full slate of events, including the Gold Cup, CONCACAF Cup and Women’s World Cup Qualifying Championship, as well as youth and club championships. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Traffic Sports had previously held the rights, with that agreement being terminated last July after the agency pleaded guilty to fraud charges.
FINAL ROUND: ESPN's Jeff Carlisle reported CONCACAF "solicited bids by circulating a request for proposal to 24 international firms." The process took five months and a source said that "at least four firms reached the first stage of evaluation, with SUM and another unnamed firm reaching the final round." The move to recommend SUM was made "by a variety of departments within CONCACAF including the marketing, finance, legal and procurement departments." Consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal "also assisted in the evaluation." The source said that any CONCACAF Council members "whose home federations already did business with SUM were not permitted to participate in the evaluation process," including U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati (ESPN, 5/10).
