TORONTO-BASED Sun Life Financial has announced a short-term commercial agreement with the Canadian Football League (CFL) which will see the insurance firm sponsor the Grey Cup, the Canadian equivalent of the NFL Super Bowl.
Under the terms of the deal, valued by Frontloaded at around $5m, Sun Life will assume one of two patch sponsorship positions on the jerseys worn by all teams in the playoffs and Grey Cup championship game, as well as signage presence around the pitches and stadiums.
During the Grey Cup, which takes places at the end of the regular CFL season, the League owns the rights to both patch assets on the jerseys of the teams. With Sun Life occupying one position, credit card company Rona will display its logo on the other.
Rona signed with the CFL in 2005 and will continue to emblazon the team jerseys from the regular season, during which the League owns the rights to only one of the jersey patch assets. The second belongs to individual teams to sell to a partner of its choice.
Currently, five teams have an agreement with financial institution Scotiabank to badge the players’ jerseys alongside Rona. Elsewhere, the Toronto Argonauts has Nissan as its second patch sponsor while the Hamilton Tiger-Cats has Primus. The Montreal Alouettes is the only team in the CFL not to have a second jersey patch sponsor.
Sun Life’s presence in American Football is already well established, having bought the naming rights to the Miami Dolphins stadium in 2010 in a five-year deal worth around $7.5m per year. According to a CFL spokesperson Sun Life is in talks to extend its deal with the CFL beyond the Grey Cup to a multi-year agreement.
The Grey Cup championship match will be played at the BC Place stadium, Vancouver on November 27.