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| Tuesday, March 6 | |||||
| Rodriguez, MLB hook up with Radio Shack | |||||
NEW YORK – In his first endorsement deal since signing the
richest contract in sports, Alex Rodriguez
agreed to a three-year
contract to become a spokesman for Radio Shack.
At the same time, Radio Shack is agreeing to a three-year
sponsorship deal with major league baseball and will become title
sponsor of All-Star balloting.
Tim Brosnan, an executive vice president in the commissioner's
office, said the value of the deal is more than $10 million.
As part of the package, Radio Shack takes over from Pepsi and
seasontickets.com as the primary sponsor of All-Star voting, and
will be title sponsor of this year's season opener between Texas
and Toronto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on April 1.
Radio Shack is based in Fort Worth, Texas, near Arlington, where
the Rangers play. It's largest store is in San Juan, according to
Brosnan.
"This is one of baseball's biggest corporate sponsorships,"
Brosnan said. "For All-Star balloting, they will have kiosks in
over 7,000 retail locations."
Rodriguez's deal was negotiated by Impact Sports Marketing, a
company controlled by his agent, Scott Boras, who negotiated the
shortstop's record $252 million, 10-year contract with Texas.
"He's going to do a national commercial for them and be a
spokesperson for Radio Shack," Boras said. "I believe Radio Shack
is also buying some ad time and sponsoring some events."
Rodriguez previously had sponsorship deals with Nike, Giorgio
Armani, Armor hot dogs and a jet-service company.
"We have three or four other things we're working on," Boras
said.
When he played in Seattle, Rodriguez had a relatively low
profile as baseball stars go, primarily because many of his games
ended too late to make newspapers and early evening highlights in
the Eastern and Central time zones.
With the Rangers, he figures to get more attention.
"The Dallas market has been very good," Boras said.
Radio Shack will become baseball's official electronics
retailer.
"It's a new category for us," Brosnan said. "It's their first
official sports sponsorship."
As part of the agreement, Radio Shack will sponsor All-Star
Sunday for the next three seasons and will buy time on baseball's
national broadcasts, subject to negotiations with Fox and ESPN.
"This is the first of what will be a very, very active season
of participation by corporate sponsors," Brosnan said. "There
will be upcoming announcements from Pepsi, MasterCard, Gatorade and
John Hancock." Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories | ALSO SEE A-Rod, Jeter smooth out 'misunderstanding' A-Rod takes field for first time as a Ranger | ||||