ESPN Star Sports Signs Soccer Broadcast Sponsors
Singapore, 15 October 2001: ESPN STAR Sports (ESS), Asia’s leading sports broadcaster together with Toshiba and Carlsberg Asia Ltd, have concluded a broadcast sponsorship deal for the world’s most popular football league, the English Premier League (EPL).
This one-year sponsorship agreement will see both Toshiba and Carlsberg enjoying regional association with the 2001/2002 English Premier League season through a combination of multi-level integrated benefits. This includes on-air entitlements around all ‘live’ matches and repeats on ESPN and STAR Sports, as well as marketing and on-line benefits.
Announcing the conclusion of the sponsorship agreements, ESS Managing Director Rik Dovey said, ‘We’re excited to welcome Toshiba and Carlsberg as broadcast partners for the English Premier League. Their already strong involvement with football globally, makes this a fitting partnership’. He added, ‘The popularity of the English Premier League is now at an all-time high, watched by over 165 million people across Asia. Sponsors have been quick to see the benefit of associating with the League, and we are thrilled to be able to provide them with a way to leverage its potential.’
Toshiba quote:
‘We at Toshiba are very excited to be associated with the most thrilling game in the world,’ said Mr. Kenichi Ohgiya, Group Manager, Toshiba Agency for Toshiba Corporation. ‘By sponsoring the English Premier League broadcasts, we hope to score our own goals by associating our brand image of speed, scale, strength and smartness with the world’s toughest football competition.’ He continued, ‘As an official IT partner of the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups™, we are aiming to expand our brand positioning globally and believe that sponsorship of the English Premier League will bring us one step closer to that goal.’
Toshiba’s sponsorship also extends to Goals! – a presentation of the week’s best plays drawn from the Premier, Spanish, Italian and Champions leagues.
Mr. Mogens Thomsen, Sales and Marketing Director of Carlsberg Asia Ltd, said, ‘Carlsberg’s sponsorship of the EPL is a reflection of our commitment to bring world class football to Singapore and Asia. The Carlsberg Challenge which marked Liverpool FC’s first team’s first visit to Singapore in July this year was a very successful event and we received overwhelming response from football fans in Singapore. We already have a strong global involvement with football and this broadcast sponsorship is a further extension of Carlsberg’s long association with the world’s most popular football league.’
The passion, drama and excitement of the EPL season began on August 18, 2001 ‘live’ and exclusive on ESS’ two channels, ESPN and STAR Sports. This season alone, football fans across Asia will be enjoying coverage of 165 ‘live’ games and over 1000 hours of EPL programming. In addition, there is a never-before-seen line-up of support news programming seven days a week, with a comprehensive menu of pre- and post-game analyses, predictions and information – a first for English Premier League coverage in Asia. Beyond the coverage on air, there are a series of interactive activities on a newly designed espnstar.com.
Said Mr Dovey, ‘It is a whole new ball game. By expanding our coverage and introducing support programming we have not only added to the enjoyment of all our viewers across Asia but are broadening the following for the League. This establishes the network as a valuable media tool for sponsors like Toshiba and Carlsberg who can capture audiences across a wide fan base.’
According to the League’s own figures, worldwide audiences continue to grow. As of September 2000, the EPL achieved a 12% increase from the previous season bringing the total number of homes to over 440 million.
For further information, please contact:
Stephenie Vasko, ESPN STAR Sports on tel: 65 488 6126 or email davids@espnstar.com
Or
Grace Ngoh, Foreword Communications on tel: 65 338 5918