Double deal for sponsor

AutoNation gets naming rights deal for team’s stadium, practice jerseys

FORT LAUDERDALE — At long last, Inter Miami CF have locked in a sponsor for their stadium and jerseys — their practice ones, at least.

Inter Miami announced Friday morning that AutoNation will be the club’s naming-rights sponsor for its first-team practice jerseys and stadium in Fort Lauderdale ahead of the team’s second season in Major League Soccer.

The deal is for three years, with the 18,000-seat Inter Miami CF Stadium changing its name to DRV PNK Stadium.

The financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but the agreement is expected to give Inter Miami another source of revenue after the COVID-19 pandemic significantly interrupted their inaugural year with the season being paused for several months, the number of games in 2020 reduced and the team never being able to have full-attendance for a home match.

“To name the stadium DRV PNK with the color scheme — it’s about value,” Inter Miami managing owner Jorge Mas said. “It’s about being able to bring attention to a cause and something that’s important that’s going to change lives.”

Inter Miami’s first opportunity to play a game in the renamed stadium will come on Sunday when the team plays Toronto FC at 2 p.m. in its final preseason friendly.

The team’s regular-season opener versus the LA Galaxy is set to take place in Fort Lauderdale on April 18. The stadium will operate at a limited capacity of 8,000 fans for Inter Miami’s first three home games, with Mas hopeful the club will be allowed to host up to 16,000 spectators by its fourth home match versus D.C. United on May 29.

AutoNation is a Fort Lauderdale-based car retailer founded in 1996 with over 300 locations nationwide. Through their DRV PNK mission, AutoNation has partnered with local and national cancer charities across the U.S., raising and donating over $26 million to cancer research and treatment.

Aesthetically, the partnership between Inter Miami and AutoNation is a perfect fit with Inter Miami’s primary colors being black, pink and white.

Mas mentioned Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle as an inspiration for wanting to partner with an organization with a philanthropic mission like AutoNation’s.

“That’s the type of things we want to do at Inter Miami,” he said. “We have a global platform to talk about DRV PNK and Breast Cancer Awareness — that’s what we want to be known for.

The agreement includes: „ TV and digital exposure for AutoNation through Inter Miami’s streaming on their app; „ AutoNation becoming the “saves” sponsor during matches, with AutoNation and Inter Miami donating up to $100,000 toward cancer research annually for each time an Inter Miami goalkeeper makes a save; „ AutoNation becoming a presenting sponsor at an Inter Miami home match in October in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and DRV PNK Across America Day.

The deal, however, leaves Inter Miami as one of the two teams in MLS — along with the Colorado Rapids — to not have a front-jersey sponsor for their game-day kits heading into the 2021 season.

Inter Miami played the entire 2020 season without a front-jersey sponsor. They added Baptist Health — the club’s official medical team, hospital system and sports medicine provider — as a left-sleeve jersey sponsor heading into the MLS is Back tournament last July.

Mas said the club remains in discussions for jersey sponsors and that Inter Miami are “very close” to securing a deal. He told the Sports Business Journal that he’s optimistic Inter Miami will have a game-day jersey sponsor before the team’s home opener.

“Going back to last year right before the opener, we were in line with a jersey sponsor,” Mas said. “COVID changed all of that.”

He added that there were “a lot” of discussions with hospitality-based companies for jersey sponsorships — airlines, cruise lines, etc. — last year. Inter Miami were criticized when reports surfaced last February that the club reached a jersey-sponsorship deal worth over $200 million with Qatar Airways, but the transaction didn’t come to fruition.

“[Game-day] jersey sponsorships we’re looking at the same way [as the practice jersey sponsorship]: how do we make a long-term relationship [and] how do we make an impact with our first jersey sponsor,” Mas said. “It’s not just about how many dollars or how many years — it’s about a true partnership. We want our jersey partnership to reflect values. To be able to use the economics of a transaction like that to make a difference in our community.”

While Mas said the discussions between Inter Miami and AutoNation were mainly focused on the training jerseys and stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Marc Cannon — AutoNation’s executive vice president and chief customer experience officer — didn’t rule out the possibility of sponsoring the team’s game-day kits.

“It could be something that leads further down the road,” he said. “What we wanted to do was make an impact right away today. Every partnership starts somewhere. Every partnership grows. This is going to grow. You’ll see where the avenues take us.”

Inter Miami built their stadium in Fort Lauderdale on the site of the former Lockhart Stadium, which opened in 1959 before closing in 2016 and being demolished in 2019 to make way for Inter Miami’s facilities.

Mas said Inter Miami expect to play at their stadium in Fort Lauderdale for the next three seasons before moving into Miami Freedom Park — the proposed project that the club is planning to make Inter Miami’s permanent home for games.

He’s confident a lease agreement with the city of Miami will come within the next 1 ½ months.

“We’re 95% there with the city of Miami,” Mas said.

“We’re very close to picking a date and putting it on the agenda for the city commission. I’m highly confident by the next four, five, six weeks we can have a date and get it on and hopefully get a green light so we can move forward on the hard part, which is actually building the project.”

He added that the delays aren’t a cause for concern.

“It’s not about any of the major points — those are all agreed to,” Mas said. “It’s about getting lease terms agreed to. It’s a 99-year lease. There have been no major obstacles or hiccups, but I am very confident it’ll be very soon.”