By RYAN TOLMICH
Coca-Cola is the latest company to enter a partnership with MLS and U.S. Soccer.
Bloomberg reported Sunday that Coca-Cola has signed a four-year deal to become the official non-alcoholic beverage sponsor of MLS and U.S. Soccer. MLS had previously been sponsored by Pepsi from the league’s inception until this past December, allowing Coca-Cola to win a bid to sponsor the league through Soccer United Marketing (SUM).
The sponsorship is set to officially begin with Wednesday’s match between the U.S. Men’s National Team and Mexico and will include stadium signage and promotional player appearances.
“Why now? I think, ‘Why not before?’ would be an equally appropriate question,” Senior Vice President of Investment, Connections and Assets for Coca-Cola North Americas Ivan Pollard told Bloomberg. “The sport’s had a real burgeoning growth, and the domestic game and national teams are really attracting young fans.”
The deal is MLS’ fourth major sponsorship deal to come to fruition in recent months, as the league has signed on to make Johnson & Johnson its official health-care sponsor, Audi its official automotive partner and Mondelez International its official snack.
What do you think of the deal? How will the new sponsorship affect the league?
Share your thoughts below.
So it turns out Coke & Pepsi swapped leagues, as Pepsi is now the sponsor for NBA & WNBA (previously Coke). It would be interesting to see which one of them chose which league first. Did Pepsi oust Coke from it’s NBA roost, or did Coke see MLS as the new ‘it’ league and push Pepsi off of MLS?
so MLS continues to make more and more money while they screw their players and keep the salary cap ludicrously low…
Remember when the league kept pushing Sierra Mist? We had to watch the same 2 commercials for two years. Awful.
Good deal for the league.
This is Great! Another good deal for MLS, and I think coke is much better then pepsi to drink anyhow, plus a bigger/better/higher end brand for MLS. Great to have more money in MLS -this will get to the players eventually, they can get cap raises on the next CBA – the more money coming into the league the better chance of salary increases for players, so I root the marketing group onward!!!
is home depot or lowes still involved backing the MLS?
Does this mean I’ll be able to get a Diet Coke at BC Place? Or will I be stuck with sickly-sweet Diet Pepsi still?
Every “new” deal MLS makes the more digusted I get. 3+ mil. salary cap really?? The depth in the league is really sub par and the MLS brass just seem content to line their pockets.
Do you know how much more this deal is worth per year than the old one with Pepsi? I can’t seem to find hard numbers anywhere.
Coca-Cola is best brand in the world…..great move!
No Coke, Pepsi.
Sadly, most folks here are probably too young to get that 30+ year old joke. However, I immediately got an image of a nodding Bill Murray, looking like a deer in the headlights.
If not salary cap increase…then use part of the money for player performance bonuses (Team’s MVP, Rookies of Year, Golden and Silver Boot etc..) like 10k-50k.
Salary cap going up 40 percent in 4 years. Not to mention DPs, academy teams and USL teams.
i thought it was 7% every year
(i question if that even outpaces global football salary inflation)
Tell me again, why is the salary cap only $3mil?
+3mil
Maybe because rich people and corporations want to maximize their profits and only spend money when they are forced to. I don’t understand why the players association didn’t push more on this. I think it’s just as important for them as free agency.
Agreed – I actually think it’s more important than free agency. Free agency will only benefit a percentage of players. But if you have say potentially $6m to divide between 20 players instead of $3m, that benefits everyone.
Maybe it’s because the owners who have lost hundreds of Millions on soccer in the US over 20 years would like to make some of that back.
so do the owners, which is why the made a deal of Free Agency to keep an extremely week union busy fighting for something that really doesnt affect their bottom line at all in the end
Because Manchester United makes more money from Chevy to slap their logo on their shirt than the MLS does from it’s entire annual TV deal.
Gotta think that Atlanta 2017 is a factor, hoping a lot of the big corporations here pump money into the club & league.
There are certainly no shortage of corporate sponsorship possibilities here in Atlanta…
Take Coca-Cola’s money. Drink water.
Ahem, drink water AND beer.
American Beer IS water.
Yea, drink Dasani…..
Nice.
Yes, 5 cents of tap water that you pay $2.00 for.
I prefer drinking Pepsi myself, but whatever gets them the most money is what I prefer in this case. Bring on the sponsorships so that MLS can continue to grow and develop.
i miss Crystal Clear Pepsi…
i’m waiting for that pepsi true to go nationwide (sugar/stevia mix). That Coca cola Life isn’t that great. I mainly drink tea but for a burger meal once needs to have a soda. I stay away from high sugar content…its just good for you, whether you “burn it off” or not. I’m super fit, but yeah pepsi is the best though i hear Dr Pepper is also doing a sugar/stevia formula. Well, this deal beats herbalife
I thought the Coke Life drink tasted exactly like Coke. And Crystal Pepsie tasted exactly like vinyl smells.
In any case, at one point you gotta ask if it is legal for the USMNT and MLS to be bundled so often in these deals.