Dick's expands Major League Soccer sponsorship

PITTSBURGH Dick's Sporting Goods has become the official sporting goods retail sponsor of Major League Soccer as well as ten of the 14 teams playing in the league in 2008. According to the Dick's and MLS, the five-year agreement is designed to correspond with the growth plans of the country's largest sporting goods retailer, allowing Dick's to become an official sponsor of each of the remaining teams as it begins opening stores in those markets, culminating in 2011 when the sponsorship will cover every team in the league exclusively.

"Our relationship with Major League Soccer and the U.S. Soccer Federation further demonstrates the commitment Dick's Sporting Goods has made to the game of soccer in the United States," said Jeffrey Hennion, evp and chief marketing officer of Dick's Sporting Goods. "This agreement gives us the ability to reach players and fans of the game at every level, including the newly created U.S. Soccer Development Academy, which will provide the most elite youth soccer clubs in the country the infrastructure and curriculum needed to compete at an international level for years to come."

The enhanced agreement between Dick's Sporting Goods and MLS will also include the presenting sponsorship of First Kick, the opening week of the 2008 MLS regular season that will feature six nationally televised games on ESPN2, Fox Soccer Channel, HDNet and Telefutura, starting Saturday, March 29 when the Los Angeles Galaxy face off against the Colorado Rapids at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo.