The New York Mets have signed a multiyear sponsorship with Porsche Cars North America that will rename two luxury areas at Citi Field.
The luxury car brand will now be the title sponsor of what was previously the Empire Suite level at the 7-year-old ballpark, and will also have its name on what was the Acela Club, above left field. Both the Porsche Suite level and the Porsche Grill are slated to feature a Porsche vehicle on-site as a showcase.
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Rendering shows a Porsche vehicle on display on the suite level at Citi Field.
Photo by: NEW YORK METS
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A formal announcement of the deal is expected this week, and the new areas will carry the Porsche branding as the Mets begin a homestand Tuesday against Arizona and San Diego.
The deal represents a rare entry into American team sports for Atlanta-based Porsche Cars North America. The brand in June announced a sponsorship deal with the New York Jets.
Porsche then deepened its entry into sports based in part on the successful domestic rollout of its Macan small sport utility vehicle. The Macan has quickly become one of Porsche’s top-selling vehicles, and its latest model carries an entry price point of less than $50,000.
“The brand is now a lot more accessible to people,” said Jacob Harb, Porsche Cars North America vice president. “A lot of people have never even thought to drive a Porsche, but our product portfolio has expanded and this partnership represents an incredible venue to communicate that.”
Financial terms were not disclosed, but Harb described the deal as a multimillion-dollar agreement, and larger in total investment than the Jets deal. Similar to the Jets agreement, select Mets ticket and suite holders will be invited to Porsche test track driving events. Porsche will also advertise on the Mets’ home broadcaster, SportsNet New York, and gain access to the club’s customer relationship management database.
“We think the data will be a critical piece of this, and that there’s a lot of crossover between the Mets’ fan base and our potential customers,” Harb said.
Harb said Porsche could potentially expand to other U.S. markets.
“We will continue to be very targeted and careful that we are positioning the brand correctly, but this is definitely an area of opportunity for us, and we believe that we are leveraging both [baseball and football] well so far,” he said.
The Mets deal with Porsche was struck without the use of an outside agency.
Amtrak’s’ Acela brand had been the name of the 350-seat restaurant at Citi Field since the ballpark’s 2009 opening. Earlier this year, Amtrak indicated to the Mets a desire to relinquish that asset, though it will remain a club sponsor.
“We’ve been out in the market for a while with this, but we’re very pleased to have a world-class brand like Porsche come in,” said Wes Engram, Mets vice president of corporate partnerships. “They really haven’t done a lot of sports sponsorships before this, but to me, it really speaks to how far both their brand and ours have come.”
Costs to rename and rebrand the two luxury areas were not disclosed.
