Pepsi-Cola brand Sierra Mist, one of MLS’s biggest corporate sponsors, is scheduled to announce this week that it has extended its relationship with the league through 2008 and added the U.S. Soccer Federation to its sponsorship portfolio.
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Landon Donovan holds court at the 2005
Sierra Mist MLS All-Star Game. |
Terms of the multipronged deal were not released, but Doug Quinn, executive vice president of MLS and president of Soccer United Marketing, the league’s marketing arm, pegged Pepsi’s total financial commitment at close to eight figures over the three years of the deal.
Darrell Johnson, senior marketing manager in Pepsi’s sports group, would not confirm that number but did say “we see where the value is being delivered.”
Pepsi, a founding MLS partner in 1996, allowed its exclusive negotiating window to pass late last year but eventually decided to continue the relationship. Johnson said “the clock was never ticking” and that the company was only trying to decide what other SUM assets it could leverage in addition to MLS and its 12 teams.
Pepsi joins Panasonic, Kraft, Budweiser and Gatorade as major corporate sponsors that have renewed this year. All of those except Kraft have ties to both MLS and the Soccer Federation.
As the official soft drink of MLS, Sierra Mist will continue to be the presenting sponsor of the Sierra Mist All-Star Game and an associate sponsor of the Hispanic soccer tournament Futbolito. The company also will continue to sponsor the Sierra Mist MLS Goal of the Year and Goal of the Week awards.
Sierra Mist’s partnership with MLS phenom Freddy Adu continues in 2006 as well.
In addition to the MLS extension, Sierra Mist also has partnered with the USSF, in another three-year deal, to become the official soft drink of U.S. Soccer.
