Leading consumer and IT electronics manufacturer LG Electronics are to sponsor snooker’s Grand Prix in a three-year deal worth more than £1million.

The event, which is covered exclusively by BBC Television, is to be renamed the LG Cup and will take top-class snooker back to Preston’s Guild Hall next September.

LG Electronics are a major international sports sponsor. They sponsor football’s reigning world champions France as well as the Australian national team, top Romanian club side Dynamo Bucharest and yachting’s BT Global Challenge.

They announced a new sponsorship deal with Premiership club Leicester City earlier this week and believe snooker will increase their brand exposure.

World Snooker chairman Mark Wildman said: ‘We promised members a new sponsor and now we have delivered. The fact that such a prestigious company has decided to get involved at the top of the game of snooker is a real boost for the sport and I am sure that both parties will reap the benefits.’

Jim McKenzie, chief executive of World Snooker, said: ‘LG believe snooker can help them meet their marketing objectives and their desire to become involved in the sport proves that we are creating an environment that will enable us to attract more blue chip companies.’

BBC Sport will cover the LG Cup from September 1 to 9, providing a large domestic audience for LG Electronics’ first taste of snooker sponsorship. And as a company at the forefront of design and technology in the UK, that is an important factor.

Barry Willmore, managing director of LG Electronics UK, said: ‘We are certain that the creation of the LG Cup – and the high profile we expect the tournament to achieve – will help us to reach a large global audience in addition to the terrestrial television viewers watching this prestigious event on the BBC.’

For further information, please contact:

World Snooker Media Office
Tel: 0117-317-8200
www.worldsnooker.com