ExxonMobil has signed a multiyear sponsorship deal with the NBA, making its Mobil 1 brand of synthetic motor oil the NBA, WNBA and D-League’s official motor oil, motor fuel and lubricant.
The deal includes NBA rights in China, where activation — including in-arena promos and customer hospitality — will begin at this week’s Houston Rockets-New Orleans Pelicans preseason games in Shanghai and Beijing. ExxonMobil also will soon break NBA-themed creative in China featuring Los Angeles Lakers forward Yi Jianlian.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
ExxonMobil will have pass-through rights for its own and other retailers, and will back the sponsorship with themed advertising and buys on NBA television rights holders ESPN/ABC and Turner, as well as on NBA digital and social media outlets. ExxonMobil also is expected to cut media deals with a number of NBA teams.
Rachel Jacobson, NBA senior vice president of business development and global partnerships, noted that ExxonMobil is “endemic to motorsports, but we open up a new demographic.”
The NBA has not had a motor oil sponsor for more than 15 years. Castrol had league rights from 1993 until 2000, and the brand signed an NBA China rights deal last year. Among other large U.S. properties, Castrol has been an NFL league corporate sponsor since 2010, while Lucas Oil signed naming rights to the Indianapolis Colts’ home field 10 years ago.
Motorsports is replete with oil and gas deals, including Mobil 1 as the official oil of NASCAR and a 12-year-old deal that has Sunoco as the racing circuit’s official fuel.
