Major League Soccer franchise Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) struck a pair of sponsorship agreements ahead of Sunday’s season opener, which broke an attendance record, rounding off a major weekend for the team.
Both of these partnerships come in the beverage industry, with canned water brand Liquid Death and water cooler system manufacturer Brio both joining the club’s partnership portfolio.
The Liquid Death partnership is focused on the brand’s range of flavored sparkling waters, which now become the exclusive flavored sparkling water partner of LAFC, but will also include Liquid Death still water products, which will be offered across the club’s 22,000-capacity BMO Stadium.
Additionally, Liquid Death will gain prominent branding inventory around the stadium, including via LED pitch-side hoardings, physical venue signage, and Liquid Death-branded coolers and recycling bins, with the pair also to collaborate on digital and social media content, in-person activations, competitions, and more.
Brio will also serve as an official partner of LAFC and gain similar sponsorship inventory across the club’s operations.
This partnership trio preceded the team’s MLS season-opening match, a 3-0 win over reigning MLS Cup champions Inter Miami, which was watched by over 75,000 people.
Billed as the first ‘Walmart Saturday Showdown’, a new fixture-based activation alongside the titular supermarket chain, the match was held not at the BMO Stadium but the LA Coliseum venue, and attracted a crowd of 75,673.
That figure made the game the best-attended MLS Opening Weekend match ever, and the second-best attended MLS match of all time.
Both teams boast major global soccer stars that bolster international appeal beyond their respective communities.
Argentine icon Lionel Messi has helped to make Inter Miami one of the most sought-after commercial prospects in MLS, while the recent addition of South Korea’s Son Heung-Min has galvanized the side’s appeal in Southeast Asia.
Indeed, LAFC’s pair of new water partnerships immediately followed Friday’s announcement of LAFC’s partnership with the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Seoul Tourism Organization (STO), adding an international element to the club’s sponsor mix.
