Toyota has signed a three-year deal with the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association to become title sponsor of its U.S. Grand Prix series and official automobile of the American snowboarding and freeskiing teams.
The sponsorship is the automaker’s first new deal with a U.S. Olympic sport governing body since it signed a record-breaking $835 million deal in 2015 with the International Olympic Committee, along with a subsidiary deal with the U.S. Olympic Committee that begins Jan. 1.
Those rights will be on display during the immediate run-up to the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in late 2017 and early 2018, but the USSA deal gives Toyota a prominent platform in a major Olympic sport this month. (BMW still holds auto rights until Dec. 31 with the USOC.)
The newly titled Toyota U.S. Grand Prix, which starts Thursday at Copper Mountain, Colo., serves as the qualifying tour for Team USA in snowboarding and freeskiing, disciplines that generated 10 of the governing body’s 17 medals in Sochi.
“Toyota’s tie-in to the Olympic movement starts in Korea, so it makes it a very effective match for us to be able to activate that sponsorship by hosting the exclusive path to the Olympics,” USSA Chief Marketing Officer Mike Jaquet said.
Terms were not disclosed, but former Grand Prix title sponsor Sprint paid $1.3 million annually in a deal that expired in 2015.
Toyota’s rights include camera-visible signage, ad units on NBC and NBCSN broadcasts, a sponsorship of a digital highlights series and creative content within the broadcast. Its first television appearance will be Sunday on NBC.
Toyota is already a sponsor of USA Hockey, and also is a partner of the Dew Tour’s winter stop.
“Toyota has long enjoyed a significant presence in winter sports,” said Ed Laukes, Toyota vice president of integrated marketing operations, in a statement. “Adding the Grand Prix sponsorship to our portfolio is a tremendous opportunity for us to continue to grow our relationship with the fans that are so passionate about the sports of snowboarding and freeskiing.”
Snowboarding enthusiasts are hoping for extra attention on their sport this cycle thanks to the IOC’s decision to include big air, a visually dramatic discipline that requires athletes to perform midair acrobatics off a mountainside jump.
The title sponsorship remained vacant for last year’s Grand Prix because talks had already begun with Toyota when the mega-deal with the IOC was announced, Jaquet said. “Ironically, they said we can’t make any moves until we figure out the Olympic strategy,” he said. “It kind of sent it off-track a little bit. But the net-net of it is actually a much more strategic deal for them and us.”
Saatchi and Team Epic, led by founding partner David Grant, advised Toyota on the deal. Jaquet negotiated the deal for USSA directly.
Toyota is the third company to hold title rights to the Grand Prix, following Sprint and Chevrolet before that. Audi remains the official car of the U.S. alpine teams, a deal unaffected by Toyota’s entry.
