IEG Sponsorship Report estimates found that the four major U.S. pro sports leagues and their teams will see overall sponsorship income increase 16% this year to $1.8B (IEG SPONSORSHIP REPORT, 10/11).
COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Alltel is “turning over the naming rights on its corporate sponsor day on 12 college campuses this fall to students” in a promotion named “My Own Game.” After writing a short essay, ten semifinalists have a week “to campaign for votes,” which are cast online and via text message (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 10/11). Participating schools include Florida, Florida State, North Carolina State, New Mexico, UTEP, Michigan State, Kansas State, Duke, Oklahoma, Virginia, Clemson and Arizona (THE DAILY)....In L.A., Lonnie White wrote while UCLA has a sponsorship deal with adidas, most of the football team’s WRs use Cutters gloves. UCLA WR Andrew Baumgartner said, “They want you to wear Adidas. But we watch Notre Dame on film a lot and even though that’s an Adidas school, all of those guys wear Cutters. I’m sure it’s the same thing with Nike schools too.” White notes Cutters also provides gloves for NFLers, though this year “certain models were banned by the league,” which has licensing deals with Nike and Reebok (L.A. TIMES, 10/11).
MAKING A MARK: BRANDWEEK’s Marketers of the Year include Vans VP/Marketing Doug Palladini, Disney CEO Robert Iger, Toyota Motor Sales Group VP/Marketing Jim Farley and London Mayor Ken Livingstone, who is recognized for his role with the 2012 Olympics (BRANDWEEK, 10/9 issue).
