Toronto’s Jazz Media – best known for bringing its giant portable LED screens to major events – added sports marketing to its portfolio when the opportunity arose to exclusively handle corporate sponsorship and marketing initiatives for three new basketball teams that are set to join the 60-team American Basketball Association next year.
The company’s new Jazz Media Display Group will build corporate partnerships for the Mississauga Red Wolves as well as an as-yet-unnamed Halifax team and a team that will be based in Connecticut. Montreal already has an ABA team and Quebec City, Calgary and Edmonton are expected to join the league in 2007.
‘We will be contacting companies that may be seeking an opportunity to increase brand loyalty or develop a footprint in professional basketball within their communities,’ says Jazz Media president Paul Riley. He adds that ‘the ABA – many of whose teams are owned by celebrities and former athletes – is the fastest growing sports league in history, with the number of teams doubling over the past three years.’
Throughout North America, Riley says millions of people watch the games, and the target demo for the broadcasts is males and females 14-45. Games played by the three teams Jazz is representing will be televised by local broadcasters including Rogers-Peel in the Mississauga region, with projected viewers per game of 4,000 to 5,000. In Halifax, viewership is expected to about 10,000, but it’s too early to call for the Connecticut team.
www.jazzmediagroup.com
