ESPN, Tecate Renew Boxing Sponsorship Deal

ByBoxing Press

ESPN and Tecate, cerveza con carácter, announced today the renewal of their boxing sponsorship agreement that aligns the company with ESPN’s Spanish and English-language boxing content on TV, online and on radio; highlighted by the title sponsorship of the Tecate Friday Night Fights Studio within weekly Friday Night Fights telecasts on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes.

“Since 2007, boxing has embodied Tecate’s con caracter brand experience through the sponsorship of various marquee events. The extended relationship with ESPN Deportes will give us continuity in the sport and presence in key markets,” said Felix Palau, vice president of marketing for Tecate Equity. “We are confident that Tecate Friday Night Fights Studio paired with ESPN’s media support will help anchor the brand as the leading boxing sponsor.”

“Tecate is the leading brand in boxing today and we are thrilled to once again partner with them and their agency, MV42, on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights series and our boxing programming across ESPN platforms,” said John Fitzgerald, vice president, multimedia sales, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Audio. “This deal reinforces ESPN’s unique position in reaching Hispanic sports fans in English and Spanish.”

Tecate’s sponsorship comes back as a fully integrated alliance across multiple platforms. As part of the agreement, Tecate will continue airing ads on ESPN Deportes’ original production of Viernes de Combates. In addition, Tecate will also be running 30 second ads in Spanish during all of ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights, a milestone for the company as they do not typically advertise in the general market. ESPN will tie in the Tecate concept of “Con Carácter” (With Character) by integrating the brand into both networks’ Friday Night Fights telecasts as well as on ESPN Deportes Radio’s afternoon program Zona ESPN.

As part of the agreement, Tecate will also continue as presenting sponsors of ESPN Deportes’ Golpe a Golpe, the network’s weekly boxing studio show co-hosted by boxing legend Marco Antonio Barrera and Jorge Eduardo Sánchez. New elements of the deal include local activations in key U.S. Hispanic markets. As part of the deal, Golpe a Golpe presented by Tecate will embark on a road tour that will bring a full production of the program to two markets. Additional activations include experiential Golpe a Golpe show segments taped in local markets, back dropped with Tecate in Dallas, San Antonio, Brownsville, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and San Diego.

The deal also includes co-branded Out-of-Home, digital viral video campaign, e-newsletters and mobile & SMS tune-ins for consumer 21 and older. The cerveza brand will also sponsor boxing updates on ESPN Deportes’ SportsCenter. In addition, online components on ESPNdeportes.com will bring Tecate to life.

Viernes de Combate, returns to ESPN Deportes on Friday, January 8th featuring a brand new theme song titled “Ponte Ready” by the up-and-coming Puerto Rican band Da’ Zoo. The band, recently named Best MTV Tr3́s New Artist of 2009, exclusively produced a version of the song for ESPN which features lyrics surrounding the excitement of boxing.

This year, Viernes de Combate will air throughout 2010 on select Fridays, showcasing some of the best bouts in the industry, beginning at times ranging from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. ET. The 2010 studio portion of the telecast will feature Jose Hernandez and Leopoldo Gonzalez as hosts. ESPN Deportes’ David Faitelson and Robert Sierra will call the action.

The Jan. 8 season-opening fight, which will begin at 10 p.m. ET, will feature former junior middleweight titlist Roman Karmazin (39-3-1, 25 KOs) of Russia squaring off against Colombia’s Dionisio Miranda (20-4-2, 18 KOs) in Glendale, Calif., in a middleweight title elimination bout. The winner will receive a mandatory title shot against Sebastian Sylvester of Germany.

Other fighters featured in the opening weeks of FNF include Jesse Brinkley (34-5, 22 KOs), formerly of “The Contender,” on Jan. 29 and Guillermo Rigondeaux (3-0, 3 KOs), a two-time Cuban Olympic gold medalist and top-notch prospect, on Feb. 5.