Back to Work! NHL Lockout Is Over..

The National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players' Association reached agreement on the framework for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement early Sunday morning. After negotiating for more than 16 hours, both sides announced an agreement in principle shortly after 6 a.m. Sunday. No word yet on the start date of the season or the number of games each team will play though report...

IMG Acquires Sports PR Agency, Catalyst

IMG has added to the capabilities of its consulting division by acquiring New York City-based, . Founded in 2005, the firm which counts brands like Purina, Subway, Dick's Sporting Goods, Under Armour, Timex, Vitamin Water and Powerade as clients, will retain offices in New York, Los Angeles and Charlotte as it is integrated within IMG's consulting division. "The acquisition of Catalyst is a pe...

AP Gives Sponsored Tweets a Try, Twitterverse Freaks Out

As it looks for new methods of monetization, the Associated Press today announced that Samsung will be the first company to provide sponsored tweets to the news agency's primary Twitter account, found at Twitter.com/AP. The social media sponsorship is set to coincide with the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas starting today and the advertising will appear twice a day this week (Jan. 7...

IOC Names Auto Supplier

Audi will be the new automobile supplier of the International Olympic Committee under the terms of a new partnership that will equip the Olympics organization's fleet in Lausanne, Switzerland as well as supply international IOC events with Audi. The Volkswagen Group, which owns Audi, was the official vehicle partner of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and will again assume this role in 2014 at ...

Soccer Star, Ronaldo, To Intern For Ad Agency

One of the world's most famous soccer players, Ronaldo, will soon be embarking on another career -- on the other side of the sponsorship table. Having retired from soccer in 2011, the former Brazilian striker who at one point reportedly earned north of $20M annually from endorsements with Nike, Castrol and others, will be moving to London to study advertising as an intern at WPP - the world's ...

Bullpen Calls To Go Wireless As Part Of New MLB Sponsorship Deal

More big news coming out of CES today: T-Mobile is now the Official Wireless Sponsor of Major League Baseball. As part of the multi-year, multimillion-dollar partnership, T-Mobile will work with MLB and its digital media arm, MLB Advanced Media, to bring wireless capabilities to America's national pastime. In particular, T-Mobile will handle the on-field call to the bullpen with its wireless ph...

Sponsorship Spending Projected To Outpace Ad Growth in '13

According to IEG, the WPP sponsorship consulting firm, sponsorship expenditures are estimated to reach $53.3 billion globally in 2013, measured against $51.1 billion in 2012 and $48.6 billion in 2011. North America is likely to make the biggest contribution to the global 4.3% projected increase. IEG predicts that the North American market will be worth $19.9 billion in 2013, a 5.5% bump from ...

ATP Tour Unveils Official Timekeeper

Less than a month after becoming the official timekeeper of Formula One, Swiss watchmaker Rolex has added the ATPWorld Tour to its growing portfolio of prestigious partnerships. The new multi-year partnership will make Rolex the Official Timekeeper of the ATP. In addition, Rolex has extended its existing sponsorship of the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals at The O2 in London. Rolex...

New Balance Promotes Disney Partnership With Mickey-Inspired Running Shoe

New Balance is giving its running shoes a Mickey and Minnie-inspired update today announcing the launch of the limited edition 860v3 runDisney-edition New Balance running shoe. The new shoe is part of an integrated alliance between Disney and New Balance that will make the apparel company the official athletic shoe of the Magic Kingdom. In addition to becoming the Official Running Shoe of runD...

Help Us Keep The SponsorPitch Jobs Center FREE

SponsorPitch would be nothing without the loyalty of its now, rapidly approaching 20,000 members. That's one of the reasons that we've tried to keep as much of the network free to you as possible, while still paying the bills and building a growing business. About two years ago we added a simple jobs board when agencies started to ask us how they could access our growing membership base to fi...