SALT LAKE CITY - Like so many other professional soccer teams around the world, Real Salt Lake has brokered a sponsorship deal that emblazons another name across the players' chests.
In front of 10,000 cheering XanGo juice distributors, Real Salt Lake players and team investor-operator Dave Checketts revealed the new team's new jerseys.
In place of the name Real on the front, the name XanGo is spelled out in bold block letters across the players' chests.
Real Salt Lake is the first Major League Soccer team to sell its most prized advertising space to a corporate sponsor. MLS officials first gave permission for teams to form such partnerships back in June. When the word came to Dave Checketts, he immediately thought of the young Utah-based company.
"They were the first ones we thought of," Checketts said. XanGo also was the primary sponsor of Real Salt Lake's friendly against Real Madrid last August, the XanGo Cup.
XanGo is a nutritional supplement juice created from the mangosteen fruit of southeast Asia. The 4-year-old company markets its product through a network of 600,000 direct distributors in 14 countries.
"For the players, you have to put a name there that you are comfortable with," Checketts said. "There are a lot of names we wouldn't want to put there."
XanGo reportedly purchased the ad space for better than $4 million. While having a corporate name displayed so prominently on the team's jersey may be a foreign idea to U.S. sports fans, Checketts said it is a sign of things to come.
"There are no timeouts in soccer," Checketts said. While other sports are looking for ways to add more timeouts, and thus have more opportunity for ad revenue, soccer has to keep up financially in other ways.
The model has worked well for teams around the world: Real Madrid, for instance, has Siemens as a chest sponsor. Checketts predicts other pro sports in the USA will soon follow suit.
"It is just going to hit soccer first," Checketts said.
Peter Richins is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
