La Liga club Leganes is considering a name change to Leganes Madrid to help put it "on the map," according to Adriana Garcia of ESPN.com. The outfit, based in the south of Madrid, known since its creation as Club Deportivo Leganes, is "playing in Spain's top flight for the first time" in its 88-year-old history. Leganes Owner Felipe Moreno said, "We want to have our name on the map of the world so rather than being Leganes CD we want to be Leganes Madrid. We are in Madrid, a suburb of Madrid, and we want this to happen. It's about exposing the club to the outside world." Since gaining a "historic" promotion to La Liga, Leganes has been working toward securing int'l partnerships. The club believes that adding Madrid to the name "would make the club more attractive to sponsors." Leganes did sign a deal last month with Saudi Arabian sports marketing company MBUZZ Sport "to appear on the front of Leganes' shirts" in the '16-17 season (ESPN.com, 9/28).
MAKING WAVES: SPORT 360's Mark Lomas reported Leganes "may be minnows" but the club is "making waves" with its sponsorship deal with MBUZZ. While on-the-pitch performances have "earned acclaim," developments off it have "also begun to garner interest." In recent weeks, Leganes officials have traveled to both the UAE and China to "secure international partnerships for a club looking to take full advantage of its status as a La Liga outfit." The commercial deal struck in Dubai is "particularly intriguing," given that it could revolutionize the concept of shirt sponsorship in football. What makes the Leganes agreement different, however, is that MBUZZ Sport is "planning to license out their shirt sponsorship to the highest bidder." It will not be done on a season-by-season basis, but in "packages of games," meaning Leganes will likely have multiple names on its shirts in '16-17. MBUZZ Sport CEO Youssef Abdellaoui said, "The idea is to give small and medium sized companies a chance to get exposure in La Liga for the first time. The cost of sponsoring shirts for the season is certainly prohibitive to many so instead of giving them one season, we’ll give them a third of the season, maybe even just three or four games" (SPORT 360, 9/27).