The San Jose Earthquakes struck a three-year sponsorship deal with Amway Global, a welcome development amid a recession that has sports teams concerned about revenue.
The Earthquakes said Amway Global’s logo will appear across the front of the team’s jerseys and gives Amway rights to other promotions tied to the team.
The team, owned in part by Oakland A’s managing general partner Lew Wolff, did not describe the deal terms but the sponsorship is reportedly worth $2 million to $3 million a year.
Oakland A’s owner Lew Wolff is finalizing a deal to sell as much as 15 percent of the San Jose Earthquakes soccer franchise to owners of the San Jose Sharks.
The deal means that the Sharks’ owner, Silicon Valley Sports and Entertainment Inc., will use its marketing and event-hosting prowess to help the Quakes rather than compete against them. That could be a big boost to the Earthquakes as the soccer team seeks to make inroads with local fans and could help the team attract non-soccer events to a new stadium it plans to build in San Jose.
The Oakland A’s are jumping to a new flagship radio station, announcing a one-year deal with KTRB 860 AM for this coming season.
The agreement calls for KTRB to air all 162 regular-season A’s games and 17 spring training games. KTRB is a San Francisco-based talk radio station owned by Pappas Telecasting Companies, a privately held television broadcaster.
Bay Area sports executives are bracing for a bruising 2009, doing all they can to persuade fans to continue spending on tickets, beers, hot dogs and T-shirts, instead of hunkering down at home.
Teams are holding ticket prices steady this year, lowering merchandise costs and reaching out to their local fan base to stir up excitement.
But with the global economic funk showing no signs of abating, team executives don’t know how bad 2009’s recession will be.
“We don’t know how long. We don’t know how deep. And we don’t know what the repercussions are,” said Andy Dolich, chief operating officer of the San Francisco 49ers.
