Boston sports fandom is legendary, but it’s been almost a decade since women’s soccer fans in the city had a hometown team to root for.
With a record-setting crowd of more than 30,000 at its debut game last weekend, it’s safe to say that fans are excited to welcome Boston Legacy FC to the NWSL. And sponsors are, too, if Hyundai’s five-year jersey patch deal with the team—inked somewhere along the way between its bid approval, rebrand, and kickoff—is any indication.
Demand for jersey real estate in the league is high, with inventory having sold out across all 14 teams that were active in the league last season, according to SponsorUnited data. The valuation of Hyundai’s deal with Boston Legacy, which includes a placement on the right sleeve of the kit, hasn’t been made public, and Hyundai declined to disclose the figure, but the cost of jersey-patch sponsorships in the NWSL has been on the rise; the current record is reportedly held by Aflac and the NWSL’s 2028 Atlanta expansion team, with a front-of-kit deal said to be worth $28 million over seven years.
Given rising interest in soccer in the US ahead of this summer’s FIFA Men’s World Cup, the talent and fandom in women’s soccer, and Boston’s rich sports history, Hyundai Motor America CMO Sean Gilpin said he feels confident that investing in women’s soccer is a “winning formula” and that partnering early with the Legacy as the company’s first US jersey sponsorship will pay off in the long run.
“With the growing strength of soccer, [the jersey patch] has become a much bigger opportunity for us here in the States,” Gilpin told Marketing Brew. “This one was just a natural fit to get in on the ground floor with a team in a market like this.”
New rivalry loading…
The Legacy hasn’t exactly had a smooth start. The team was originally called “BOS Nation FC,” an anagram for “Bostonian” that was lost on some fans, who also pushed back against the team’s inaugural campaign, “Too Many Balls,” which was meant to poke fun at the lack of women’s teams in the city. Gilpin said his team was aware of the controversy, but it didn’t cause “any disruption to our plans with the team.”
It certainly wouldn’t be the first time Boston sports fans got up in arms about one of their teams, and it likely won’t be the last. The level of fan passion and investment was one of the reasons Gilpin said he was excited about partnering up with the Legacy, as was the possibility of a new NWSL rivalry. Naturally, Gilpin’s mind went to New York’s Gotham FC, the reigning champs, given the sports history between the two cities.
Get marketing news you’ll actually want to read
Marketing Brew informs marketing pros of the latest on brand strategy, social media, and ad tech via our weekday newsletter, virtual events, marketing conferences, and digital guides.
The Legacy also stood out because, as an expansion team in its inaugural season, a partnership would position Hyundai as a first mover, Gilpin told us.
“We don’t want to replace someone else’s jersey patch,” he said. “To be a founding partner is a unique opportunity to really have credibility in the relationship with the fans.”
Live sports are an important part of Hyundai’s marketing strategy, which has included work with leagues like the NFL and NBA, as well as a long-standing partnership with FIFA. A presence in the NWSL serves as a natural “complement to that broader strategy,” Gilpin said.
We’re only human
When Hyundai started talks with the Legacy, the team’s roster had yet to be announced, and it had no on-field record, but as is the case with many sports sponsorships, Gilpin said he was most concerned with shared values.
For Hyundai, “humanity is a big part of our brand ethos,” Gilpin said, and he was eager to know how the team planned to approach fan experiences and community engagement to understand how the brand could contribute. In the early days of the deal, that has meant incorporating Legacy players into Hyundai’s social content so fans can get to know them better, he said.
While Hyundai’s brand awareness is already “pretty good,” the Legacy partnership will ideally help to convey its values and backstory more clearly, while also driving ticket sales, match viewership, and engagement, which Gilpin said are shared goals for the team and the brand.
“Viewership and, all season long, people passionately following this team, is what it’s all about,” he said. “Playing a New York team is going to drive engagement within the Boston market, and I think that’s where rivalries are important…Certain matchups drive viewership across the country, and we think that there’s a great story in the making here with this team.”
Read the full article here
