The CFL Winnipeg Blue Bombers announced the club's major corporate sponsors for the '12 season, split between two levels of partnership. Along with stadium naming-rights holder Investors Group, building partners include Labatt Breweries, Pepsi, MTS, Rona, Pizza Hotline, Nissan, Manitoba Public Insurance and Recycle Everywhere. Major partners of the team include the Winnipeg Free Press, Subway Restaurants, PMA Canada, Tim Hortons, BFI, Purolato, the Winnipeg Sun, Old Dutch and MBNA Canada (Blue Bombers). Blue Bombers President & CEO Garth Buchko said, “Our sponsorships are at the highest level they’ve ever been. They’ve already exceeded last year’s sponsorships for the entire year, which was our best year ever.” He added, “We have seen some attrition from some sponsors who’ve cut back. I think we’ve maybe lost two or three sponsors in total. But we’ve had a significant number of new sponsors who’ve come on and increased their spending levels quite a bit” (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, 5/24). In Winnipeg, Kirk Penton noted the team’s commitment to its sponsors “hasn’t been this transparent for some time and maybe ever.” The Blue Bombers were “expected to get a sponsorship boost because of Investors Group Field, but some felt they would lose that edge when it was revealed the park wouldn’t be ready” for the start of the ’12 season. A few sponsors “pulled their support because of the delay, but Buchko expect them to be back” in ’13. Buchko said, “I would say 95 percent have stuck with us for their original sponsorship commitment” (WINNIPEG SUN, 5/24).
