THE NEW YORK Red Bulls, the Major League Soccer franchise run as a promotional vehicle for the energy drink brand, is seeking more second-tier sponsors to partner with the club.
Besides adidas as the MLS technical kit partner and telecom firm AT&T, the corporately-owned team currently has a raft of second-tier sponsors, including Kia Motors, Prudential, Coors Light and Panasonic.
Frontloaded understands that more brands are set to get involved with the club, which is at a pivotal moment in its history with a new executive team and a reborn New York Cosmos reentering professional soccer in the New York market after a 30 year absence.
In October, Red Bull headquarters in Austria brought in a new broom of marketers and technical staff with European experience to re-energise the club.
Chris Heck, a former NBA marketing executive, was dismissed from his job as Red Bulls’ president for business operations and his role absorbed into that of the new general manager, Jerome de Bontin, formerly a director and President of AS Monaco.
The technical side was bulwarked by veteran football coaches Gerard Houllier and Andy Roxborough.
The full story om the return of the Cosmos and its sponsorship plans in the New York market, including insights from Cosmos investor, Seamus O’Brien, features on the Cover of this month’s Sports Marketing Frontiers newsletter.
By Matthew Glendinning
Follow Matthew on Twitter: @mattgLen