MAJOR LEAGUE Soccer (MLS) team Chicago Fire has inked a three-year agreement with The Quaker Oats Company for the cereal brand to become the club’s front-of-shirt sponsor.
According to local commerce website Chicago Business, the deal could be worth up to $8m over the next three years through the 2014 season.
If accurate, the Fire would benefit from a small uplift in commercial income from the club’s previous principal sponsor, US retail giant Best Buy, which is thought to have paid around $2.5m per year between 2008 and 2010.
The new partnership with the PepsiCo-owned brand will be a welcome relief from the financial burden Chicago Fire faced in the 2011 season, completing the campaign without a front-of-shirt backer.
Headquartered in Chicago, Quaker Oats becomes the official Breakfast Foods & Nutritious Snacks Partner and only the second shirt sponsor in the 15-year history of the Fire.
The deal now leaves four of the 19 MLS teams without a shirt sponsor ahead of the 2012 season: Colorado Rapids, Columbus Crew, FC Dallas and Sporting Kansas City.