EMIRATES COULD be on its way to a triple crown of major Australian sports event title sponsorships having struck a three-year title rights agreement with the Australian Open golf championship.
The deal, brokered by World Sport Group, deepens Emirates’ commitment to golf and sport in Australia. In addition to the Emirates Australian Open, Emirates is also the Official Airline for the Australian PGA Championship.
But there could be more sponsorship prizes on the horizon for the Dubai-based airline Down Under.
The airline is already 14 years into an 18-year commitment with Australia’s leading horse race, the Emirates Melbourne Cup, in a deal worth around $3.5 million per year (discounting activation spend) – and there is continued speculation that Emirates will seek the major partner rights to the Australian Open tennis championship after 2013.
Last year, Emirates expressed an interest in the Grand Slam event, which currently has Kia as the major partner until 2013 after the Korean car manufacturer signed an extension worth an estimated $36m in 2008.
“We are open to negotiations with Tennis Australia,'' Boutros Boutros, senior vice-president of communications for Emirates, said last year. ''This is a wonderful event, a Grand Slam, and we have been sponsors of the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Rogers Cup, so yes, we are very much interested.''
A move into tennis would be consistent with Emirates’ positioning with other Australian sport properties. Boutros Boutros says the airline is not interested in second tier sponsorship rights, only in title rights. Emirates, for example, is a five-year Premier Partner of Australian Rules Football club Collingwood based on a seven-year extension deal worth $2m per year signed in 2010.
The airline also signed as the official airline of the Australian cricket team for three years between 2006 and 2009 ion a deal worth between $3m and $4m per year.