TransAmerica Extends Sponsorship

Tonight the Rapids announced that TransAmerica has extended their jersey sponsorship for another 3 seasons, through the 2019 season.  One of the key components of signing players like Jermaine Jones and (possibly) Tim Howard is the sponsorship dollars they bring in.  I doubt the Rapids would look at extending their contract until they knew hey could get full value out of those signings so I take this as a good sign that the deal to use the #1 allocation spot is all but done and they're just waiting to announce it until the time is right.  If I had to bet Tim Howard has agreed to a contract and they're just negotiating a release date with Everton, and waiting for the Opening Week hype to die down, before they announce it.

Another interesting note from this announcement.  Last May when the TransAmerica sponsorship was first unveiled the official quoted in the announcement was the CMO of the Investments and Retirements division, who was based here in Denver.  I've heard rumors that the sponsorship was mainly driven by the new Denver office wanting to get some local promotion for their Colorado expansion.  Today's announcement quotes TransAmerica's Chief Marketing Officer, listed by Bloomberg as one of the company's key executives.  That's probably a good sign that this sponsorship has grown from a local Denver deal to something more supported by the company as a whole (and presumably, with greater financial backing).

Rapids Sponsored By Transamerica

Well, didn't see that coming!  Colorado announced today that they have made a deal with Transamerica to be the jersey sponsor for the next two seasons.  Quite a turn around from the Ciao debacle of the offseason.  The sponsorship total was not announced but the team did work through Denver based Impression Sports & Entertainment which is a departure from how the team has pursued this in the past.  The deal is for two years but can be extended.  This is below the MLS threshold of 3 years that was announced but I'm thinking that getting out of the Ciao hole might have played into that.  1 year of Ciao + 2 years of Transamerica = 3 years.  The sponsorship will also include the youth teams, which is a nice touch.

The first reaction was that Transamerica was an odd choice.  A San Francisco based company sponsoring a Denver team, especially with the Earthquakes needing a sponsor?  It turns out that Transamerica has 350 employees in the Tech Center and is in the process of taking over a chunk of the CenturyLink building downtown, with plans to hire up to another 300 employees in Denver.  So not that unusual in that light.

As far as what this will do for the team on the field its hard to tell.  Hinchey had this to say in the Post:

Hinchey said the Rapids had already planned the 2015 budget — including adding new designated players — prior to the deal.

The new infusion of cash, he said, could help bring the club somewhere it's never been before: breaking even or possibly turning a profit.

Its hard to interpret that quote.  does that mean they already planned to spend money and this will just help, or does that mean that none of the money will go into the team in 2015 but it may make the team profitable?  We'll have to see what kind of moves the Rapids make in the near future.

Overall this is a big win by the Rapids.  Great move by Hinchey and the Front Office to sign well known and well respected company as the sponsor.  We won't see any Ciao funny business with Transamerica.

First News Of 2015

The Rapids posted the newest episode of their official podcast today, which included an interview with Tim Hinchey.  The biggest news to me was the first (as far as I know) official statement that we're looking for a new jersey sponsor.  I don't think this is a surprise after the Ciao debacle but now we know for sure.  There was a pretty strong report that OtterBox up in Fort Collins had made a bid to be a jersey sponsor before the Rapids went with Ciao.  I'm not a huge fan of their cases (too bulky for what I want) but I'd jump all over a Rapids case if they became the jersey sponsor.  Heck, maybe we could get them to do a limited edition Centennial 38 case run in this scenario. :D

Here are the cliff notes of the rest of the Hinchey interview.  No real news in here, most of it other than the jersey sponsor talk is what we heard at the Celtic in October, but it appears the plans haven't changed so that's something.

• They're getting a lot of interest in the shirt sponsorship (Gee, where have I heard that before)
• Season ticket renewals are near 85%
• The two key off the field areas are the shirt sponsor including finding the "right partner" (again, heard this before) and making the Dick a fortress
• The team has tripled its season tickets in the last 3 years
• A second Designated Player is "absolutely going to happen"
• Scouting on 3 different continents
• They've added talent to the front office/technical staff, now its time to add talent on the field
• Success in 2015 on the field is Progress, doing better than 2014, making the playoffs, doing better against rival clubs like FSL and KC (when did KC become a rival?), consistency.  Off the field its growing the supporter base had having fans who are happy.

Again it was mainly a rehash of the same topics from the C38 Town Hall in October.  My opinion hasn't changed.  Talk is cheap, its time, especially now that we're through the holidays, for actions.  Time to sign some of those "difference-makers" Hinchey and Bravo have talked about (Burling/Calvert/Harrington aren't difference-makers).