Torstar’s Star Media Group and Metroland Media announced this week that they are the official print and online media sponsors of the 2015 Pan American and Parapan American Games (TO2015).

“It’s an area where a lot of readers have interest in and we want to show our support,” Bob Hepburn, director, community relations, communications, Toronto Star, tells MiC of the publisher’s decision to sponsor the major amateur sporting event, set to take place in the GTA three years from now.

The sponsorship deal will provide the Games with print and online promotional space in the Star Media Group assets Toronto Star and Metro newspapers in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, London, Ottawa and Halifax. Metroland will also provide space in its more than 100 Ontario community newspapers as well as across its digital properties.

The Toronto Star currently has a weekly circulation of 2.5 million, while Metro averages a daily readership of 1.5 million readers, says Hepburn, adding that Thestar.com received 9.84 million unique visitors in June, as recorded by web analytics platform Omniture.

Hepburn says the sponsorship will allow Torstar to better connect with readers by showing its commitment to community-building through sport.

Metro and the Toronto Star are media sponsors of other sporting events such as the Ontario Summer Games, which take place in August, and the Star has also sponsored Toronto’s International Track Meet over the past few years.