Denver’s other professional football team kicks off its season Sunday, and this year the Arena Football League’s Colorado Crush will take sports sponsorship to another level.
Under a new three-year deal with Fox Sports Net Rocky Mountain, the Crush will place an FSN logo in the most unlikely of places – on the back of each player’s helmet.
“We pride ourselves on being creative,” said Rich Foro, Crush marketing consultant. “Unlike other pro teams that are more protective of their brands and identities, we want to work together with our sponsors.”
However, the growing visibility of corporate sponsorships on players may lead to fan backlash, experts said.
The AFL – dubbed the “All Fun League” by its commissioner – allows all of its teams to sell sponsorship spots on their helmets and jerseys.
“If we see push-back, that’s where we would see it – when you get on the field and on the players and athletes,” said Dave Smrek, a principal at Denver-based sports marketing firm Adrenalin.
Smrek noted, however, that NASCAR drivers have had sponsors’ decals on their helmets for years and that the Canadian Football League puts marketing logos on its fields.
“Until there is an actual push-back from the consumer, you’ll see more logos on things that were previously thought to be sacred,” Smrek said.
As part of a deal signed in 2004, Frontier Airlines has a patch on the left chest area of the Crush’s uniform. But this is the first time the Crush will have had a corporate logo on its helmet. The FSN logo is 2 inches by three-fourths of an inch and sits just above the player’s number.
“The opportunity to be associated with a team by way of branding on a team’s official game-day uniform and equipment is invaluable,” said Amy Turner, spokeswoman for FSN Rocky Mountain.
The sponsorship deal also gives the network the right to sell ads for the video display in the Pepsi Center, where the Crush plays its home games.
Financial terms haven’t been disclosed.
John Elway, Pat Bowlen and Stan Kroenke co-own the Crush, which last year won the Arena Bowl, the sport’s championship game.
The team is favored to win it all again this year, according to a preseason poll of the Arena Football League Writers Association.
The Crush’s season opener against the Chicago Rush will be televised nationally on NBC.
FSN Rocky Mountain’s first Crush game will air Feb. 12. The network has plans to telecast nine games this year and will also have a weekly half-hour show on the Crush.
“It’s no secret that sports fans in Colorado are fanatics about football,” Turner said. “This was a natural extension of our emphasis of football-related programming on FSN Rocky Mountain.”
Will putting corporate logos on helmets reach the National Football League?
“The NFL is so healthy, I don’t think they need to do it right now,” Smrek said. “But in our lifetime, that will probably happen.”
Staff writer Andy Vuong can be reached at 303-820-1209 or avuong@denverpost.com.
