Etihad Airways has become the official airline partner of Major League Soccer (MLS).
The multiyear partnership is the airline's first sports sponsorship in the United States.
Etihad and MLS are to work together on a number of initiatives including community programmes and promotions for flights and holidays for the league’s fans.
MLS has 19 teams, 16 in the US and three in Canada.
The league’s other sponsors include adidas, AT&T, Bimbo, Pepsi, Red Bull and Wells Fargo.
This is not Abu Dhabi's first venture into the league's realm. Last May, the English Premier League's Manchester City, owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, teamed up with baseball's New York Yankees to form a new MLS team, New York City Football Club, which is to begin play next year.
John Brash, the founder and chief executive of London-based Brash Brands, said an MLS sponsorship would probably be cheaper than an alliance with a top-flight Spanish or English football club.
“It’s quite a smart move, you become a global brand operating in America. You can talk about Africa, India and China and these are all clearly global markets, but unless you have a big presence in America, you can’t truly call yourself a global brand,” Mr Brand said.
James Hogan, the airline’s president and chief executive, said: “The MLS partnership will enable Etihad Airways to continue to build its brand in the United States, a key market for us, and offers an ideal platform to interact with the millions of sports fans and communities across the country.”
Etihad’s move highlights the escalating interest and role of regional companies in sports branding. Increasingly, airlines from the Arabian Gulf are becoming sponsors of major football teams and sporting events.
Emirates Airline is the official worldwide partner of Fifa, the sport’s governing body. The airline also sponsors Arsenal, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and Hamburg.
Last year, Qatar Airways signed a €69 million (Dh349.3m), three-year deal with FC Barcelona.
“Football is more understood and more of a global sport than typical American sports. It makes sense to audiences and gets a lot of exposure,” said Mr Brash.
Separately, Etihad yesterday said it had received the go-ahead from Serbian regulators for its 49 per cent US$200 million stake in Air Serbia, and will begin by converting an initial $40m loan to equity.
thamid@thenational.ae
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