Dating app Tinder has partnered with English Premier League football club Manchester City in a deal that marks its first major sponsorship deal with a sports team.
The multi-year partnership will see Tinder work with Manchester City’s men’s and women’s teams, along with sister club New York City FC, which plays in Major League Soccer, to create unique experiences for fans and Tinder users.
Experiences will include exclusive access to games and stadium events, with a particular focus to be placed on the millennial market. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed but UK news agency the Press Association said that a “multi-million” pound deal has been signed.
Tinder is marking the partnership by switching its colours across social platforms to Manchester City blue ahead of the team’s derby with cross-city rival Manchester United on Saturday. A giant co-branded blimp is also flying over Manchester today (Thursday) ahead of Saturday’s derby. City will win the league with a victory over United.
Tom Glick, chief commercial officer of City Football Group, the club’s parent company, said: “Tinder is a huge global platform which, just like football, is bringing millions of people together every day all around the world. Football is all about a community of fans, sharing moments, emotions and passion for the sport they love.
“Together with Tinder, we have a great opportunity to explore how we can combine Tinder’s significant appeal and reach with our global audience to create even more relationships in a new, fun and creative way. We believe this will be a perfect match for Tinder and for City.”
Tinder partnered with Italian Serie A football club Napoli in May 2017 but the City deal marks its first major move into sports sponsorship. As part of the deal with Napoli, the club’s Polish striker Arek Milik interacted with fans on the app for two weeks before choosing four supporters that were given a chance to meet him.