Hershey sweetens the deal for USA Track & Field

USA Track & Field (USATF), the governing body for athletics in the United States, has entered into a seven-year partnership with confectionary producer Hershey that will focus on grassroots participation.

Hershey’s long-running Track & Field Games will become the national Run Jump Throw programme in early 2015, an initiative that will develop the athletic skills of youngsters aged seven to 12 under a curriculum developed by USATF through 2020.

USATF is also set to manage elements of the Track & Field Games 2014 North American Final weekend in Hershey, Pennsylvania and webcast the meet live on its online broadcasting portal, USATF.tv, on August 2.

Former Olympic stars Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Carl Lewis helped to launch the partnership at the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD) National Convention in St. Louis.

The deal with Hershey is USATF’s second major new partnership announcement in the past 14 months. In February 2013, USATF announced Neustar as the sponsor of the US National Road Racing Championships. The new partnerships mark USATF’s most active sponsorship efforts in more than a decade.