Insurance company Nationwide will continue as the official auto, home, life, business, agribusiness, and pet insurance partner of American football's NFL after striking a multi-year partnership renewal.
The partnership, which began in 2014, will continue to center around Nationwide’s presenting sponsorship of the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award, while the deal will be expanded to include additional sponsorship in the retirement planning services category, which will start at the beginning of the 2024 season.
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Ramon Jones, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Nationwide, said: “Nationwide is thrilled to extend our relationship with the NFL as we celebrate our tenth year as presenting sponsor of the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award.
“This partnership continues to be a terrific vehicle to support numerous player-backed charities, reach key audiences, and deliver premier experiences for our business partners. Widely regarded as the league's most prestigious award, we're honored to help the Payton family keep Walter's legacy alive."
Tracie Rodburg, senior vice president of sponsorship management at the NFL, added: “We're thrilled to announce the extension of our partnership with Nationwide, in what promises to be an incredible tenth year of sponsorship of the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award.
“We're looking forward to continuing to work together with Nationwide to honor players making a positive impact on communities across the country."
The new deal comes a month after the NFL extended its licensing deal with sports equipment company Riddell, which will continue to serve as the exclusive licensee of collectible helmets and an authorized supplier of helmets to the NFL for another seven years.
Last month the average TV viewing figures for the trio of NFL games on Thanksgiving Day (November 23) broke an NFL record for games taking place on that public holiday.
The average viewing number across the Green Pay Backers against the Detroit Lions, the Washington Commanders taking on the Dallas Cowboys, and the San Francisco 49ers up against the Seattle Seahawks, came to 34.1 million. This is the highest Thanksgiving Day NFL average on record and beats the previous record of 33.6 million, set only last year.
The “total unduplicated audience” across those three games was 133 million, the league said. The trio of games was split between Fox (early), CBS (mid-afternoon), and NBC (primetime).
