:FIA World Rally Championship: Red Bull Sponsor Citroen WRC team
Red Bull agreed a partnership deal with the Citroen C4 WRC team for the FIA World Rally Championship.
Citroen Sport Director, Olivier Quesnel, said: “We are extremely happy to have this exciting new opportunity to work with such a dynamic company as Red Bull. The images of our respective firms are very complementary and this partnership will be beneficial since it slots in perfectly with rally sport and with Citroen, which is a particularly active brand”.
The deal runs from the start of the 2008 World Rally Championship, Rally Argentina, March 27-30. Red Bull joins Team Citroen-Total’s existing partners for 2008, namely Pirelli, Le Coq Sportif, Eurodatacar, Citroen Financement, Magneti-Marelli, Sabelt, Transalliance, OZ Racing and Meteo France Sports.
Source: sportsbusiness.com
Motor Racing Sponsorship: Law Firm Studio De Vito Sponsor Scuderia Triumph-SC
Studio De Vito & Associati, the well-known law and tax advisory firm with offices in Rome, Milan and Paris, has made official its partnership with Scuderia Triumph-SC Team, official racing stable of the historic British brand and competing in the motor racing World Supersport Championship and the Superstock 600 European Championship in 2008.
The deal, signed with the sponsorship consulting services of RTR Sports Marketing, brings with it an important innovation: it is the first time, in fact, that a law and tax advisory firm has entered the sports sponsorship scene, paving the way for groups of professional consultants to use the channel of sports marketing to promote their services, exactly as a business would.
>> read more about this motor racing sponsorship article >>
BBC Secures Formula One UK Sponsorship Rights
Public-service broadcaster, the BBC, has acquired the UK rights for Formula One in a five-year deal, from 2009-2013.
The deal sees F1 return to the tax-payer funded BBC from its commercial rival ITV which is exiting a year before the end of its current contract. It is thought that the BBC paid around £200 million for the rights.
Formula One boss, Bernie Ecclestone, said he was “delighted” with the deal. Asked why he had decided to split with ITV, Ecclestone said: “It’s not that we are unhappy with ITV, but I think maybe they will have their hands full with other things and maybe the BBC can service us a bit better.
“I think it will be good, a fresh face. I’m not complaining about ITV, I’m not saying they did a bad job or anything like that.
“But with all the other things they are loaded up with - and who knows they will get some more stuff - maybe it will be a bit more difficult to spend as much time on us.
“I think the BBC will do that.”
The BBC director of sports rights, Dominic Coles, said: “The biggest motorsporting event in the world is returning home after 12 years. We were delighted when Bernie Ecclestone approached us about the return of F1 to the BBC.
“F1 is a crown jewel of sports broadcasting, so to bring the rights back to their traditional home from 2009 is tremendously exciting.”
An ITV statement on Thursday said: “ITV plc today confirmed that it has decided to exit Formula One at the end of this season.
“This was a straightforward commercial decision for ITV and we are pleased that F1 will continue to be broadcast free-to-air.
“ITV will continue to broadcast live coverage of every race this season as Lewis Hamilton attempts to win his first world championship”. >> Read more at Sportsbusiness.com >>