LAST WEEK TODAY: Case Closed! Ouch.

LAST WEEK'S TOP SPONSORSHIP NEWS

Tandem's weekly Sponsorship News roundup for the week of October 28 - November 3, 2019 is here!

We're talking about a brand new automotive partnership with the world's premier community running organization, the end of a months long court battle over 2020/2021 season sponsorship, and the extension of a 20+ year old partnership.

1. New York Road Runners (NYRR), the world’s premier community running organization just announced a 3-year partnership with Volvo Cars.

Volvo Cars named the Official Vehicle of the TCS New York City Marathon which includes the Volvo XC60 T8 plug-in hybrid clearing the road ahead of runners in all race divisions. In anticipation of the November 3rd marathon, they received experiential space at the TCS New York City Marathon Expo, and will also be the Official Vehicle for other NYRR marquee events including the United Airlines NYC Half and the Popular Brooklyn Half.

#VolvoXC60 leading the way today at the #tcsnycmarathon congratulations to all the participants. We are honored to be an official partner. Pic via @nyrr pic.twitter.com/JWKljPpATx

— Volvo Car USA (@VolvoCarUSA) November 3, 2019

Furthermore, to top it all off, Volvo Cars will also be the Presenting Partner of the NYRR Virtual Racing Powered by Strava.

2. New Balance took Liverpool to court when their partnership expired claiming they could match Nike’s terms.

After months of rumbling, Liverpool won the High Court battle against New Balance showing that Nike could deliver far greater total revenue.

Case dismissed! Ouch!

Let’s look at the difference:

Nike will pay the club UK£30 million (US$36 million) annually while New Balance was at UK£45 million (US$58 million) annually. But Nike will be promoting the team through other high-profile athletes and distribute the new kit through approximately 6,000 global stores, while New Balance could only do that through 3,000 stores.

Not to mention, Nike agreed to pay a 20% royalty on net sales of Liverpool products which New Balance did not offer.

Case closed!

Except that New Balance then proceeded to ask the Court for permission to appeal. The request was dismissed. No really, it's case closed and Liverpool is officially free to sign a five-year contract with Nike starting with the 2020/2021 season.

3. In other news, Mars, who became an official partner of Nascar in 2000 just agreed to a multi-year extension of its longstanding partnership.

Continuing as the Official Chocolate of Nascar, the company will debut new products, and activate through digital and social marketing, hospitality, race entitlement, and team relationships. Mars also renewed its partnership with the Joe Gibbs Racing team earlier this year.

Lou Garate, Nascar’s senior vice president of partnership marketing said, “Mars has been connected to so many memorable moments in our history and its wide-ranging presence across our sport has resulted in its brands being some of the most recognisable in Nascar. This renewed partnership is representative of the collaboration and fully integrated approach that Mars delivers year-after-year, positioning their iconic brands as a race day favorite for millions of our brand loyal fans.”