Less than four months after ESPN announced it will host its own high school football all-American game, Under Armour has signed on as the event’s title sponsor.
Terms for the three-year agreement were unavailable. In addition to title rights, Under Armour will receive venue signs, commercial inventory, hospitality and uniform, gear and apparel rights during the game.
The game, which will be played Jan. 5 in Orlando, will be known as the Under Armour High School All-American Game. It will feature more than 80 of the nation’s top high school seniors and be aired live on ABC at 2 p.m. ET.
From its infancy when it ran advertisements featuring high school football players, Under Armour has focused its marketing efforts on young athletes. It has title-sponsored ESPN’s All-America Lacrosse Classic for the last two years and sees the football sponsorship as an extension of that program.
“Football was the sport our brand was built around,” said Steve Battista, vice president of brand for Under Armour. “This is the cornerstone of the entire suite of all-American games we’re building out.”
The Under Armour High School All-American Game joins baseball, softball and lacrosse as the brand’s fourth high school all-American title sponsorship. Battista said it expects to add a fifth sport in coming months.
The all-American football game is the product of a joint effort between ESPN and Intersport, a Chicago-based sports marketing company. The game is designed to be the culmination of ESPN’s seasonlong effort to air live high school football games on its newest channel, ESPNU.
The players will be selected based on analysis by ESPN Scouts Inc. Seventy players have already accepted invitations to participate.
All players will be eligible to participate in a skills competition, which will be televised at 7 p.m. Jan. 4 on ESPN2. Other events include an awards banquet and a player tour of the Disney facilities.
Burger King has signed as the title sponsor of the skills competition. It will join the U.S. Marine Corps as a supporting sponsor for the game.
Intersport and ESPN hope to add at least two other sponsors in categories including video gaming, personal care, telecommunications and beverages.
