NRMA Insurance has signed with the A-League Western Sydney Wanderers as its major sponsor and naming-rights partner for three years. The Wanderers will play their inaugural season in '12-13. NRMA Insurance GM of Marketing Anthony Justice said that the company had been waiting for a sports deal in NSW for awhile, and it moved quickly when the Wanderers opportunity became available (Western Sydney Wanderers FC). In Sydney, Michael Cockerill noted the shirt-front sponsorship is the company's "first foray into football, and first sporting sponsorship in NSW." The deal "comfortably exceeds the next-best in the competition, Melbourne Victory." The deal also gives the Wanderers a "cash injection at a time when their paymasters, Football Federation Australia, are keeping a tight rein on expenditure." Equally important to the club's future is "the decision to play at Parramatta for the next five season." Evidently the Wanderers "will not live up to their nickname and take the show on the road" to Homebush Bay, Penrith or Campbelltown, the other venues initially in the mix. Details of the agreement were not revealed, but it is understood the structure of the contract means "stadium management will have as much incentive to attract" home game crowds as the club does (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 7/27).
