Yahoo! Clicks With MIS Sponsorship - Brief Article

Internet search engine market leader Yahoo! has signed a four-year sponsorship deal with Major League Soccer, coming in at MLS' top-tier "official sponsor" level, making the deal worth around $12 million in cash and value-in-kind to MLS.

Yahoo!, which has been in conversation with a number of big sports properties, sees MLS as the first step in building a sports capacity that will keep its users from straying elsewhere on the Web in search of sports information. The search engine has a number of team sponsorships, including one with the MLS' San Jose Clash, but this is easily the biggest yet for the Santa Clara, Calif., tech company. It also gives hope to those selling properties who for years have been trying to squeeze money out of the billowing technology industry.

The MLS package includes media in the 45 or so telecasts on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, along with a minimum of one field board ad at every MLS stadium, or two boards if Yahoo! does not get its logo on one of the MLS teams. The uniforms of Miami Fusion and Kansas City Wizards teams are available, and Fuji and Bandai's deals with the New York MetroStars and Tampa Bay Mutiny, respectively, are up for renewal after this season. Yahoo!'s target markets are San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, New York, Chicago and Dallas.

MLS gets the promise of online branding from Yahoo! and six live player chats per year. MLS also gets rights to resell banner ads, provided as value-in-kind, to other sponsors. Yahoo! will host online all-star balloting for MLS and title the league's annual trophy for the top vote-getter.

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