INSIDE TODAY

How Lowe’s is taking on Atlanta’s Home Depot,

Another archrival of a top Georgia company has become an NFL sponsor, just in time for the upcoming Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta.

Lowe’s, which goes head to head with Atlanta-based Home Depot, announced Tuesday that it will be the official home improvement retail sponsor for the game and the NFL.

No major Georgia-based company is an official Super Bowl sponsor. Instead Coke, UPS and several of the state’s top corporate citizens will watch as their competitors use one of the biggest marketing events in years for Atlanta as a giant stage.

A Home Depot spokesperson declined comment Tuesday on the Lowe’s sponsorship. The company had an NFL and Super Bowl sponsorship deal that ended about a decade ago. It currently has its brand on Home Depot Backyard, an 11-acre greenspace for tailgating and other activities that’s next the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where the Super Bowl will be played on Feb. 3. The Home Depot name there is expected to be covered up during Super Bowl events.

An outside spokesperson for Lowe’s, which is based in Mooresville, N.C., wrote in an email to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the company “is excited to kick-off their NFL partnership at the Super Bowl LIII.” Lowe’s will brand one of the gates at the stadium and have in-stadium branding during the game. It also plans to have football-themed billboards in the city.

The company said it recently signed the NFL partnership and it wanted to use the upcoming game “as our moment to create excitement and anticipation among our core audiences for what’s to come. It was opportunistic that the Super Bowl was in Atlanta, and we wanted to leverage this moment to announce our partnership.”

Home Depot and Lowe’s are fierce competitors. Marvin Ellison, Lowe’s CEO, was at one time Home Depot’s executive vice president of U.S. stores.

Some metro Atlanta-based companies, including Delta Air Lines, are sponsors of the local host organizing committee for the Super Bowl, which carries some limited marketing rights.

JOHN SPINK/JSPINK@AJC.COM Home Depot still has its Backyard, a greenspace next to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, but its name is expected to be covered for Super Bowl events, and no major company based in Georgia is a sponsor.