In my mind the most likely companies that would be good sponsors of Portland Timbers: NYSE Listed Lithia Motors Monaco Coach Corporation NW Natural PGE Precision StanCorp Financial NASDAQ Listed Planar Systems West Coast Bank Other Jeld-Wen Kettle Foods
When Toyota Park was built, VW wasn't a main sponsor of MLS. With VW sponsoring MLS, Toyota will not get many chances to stay as a main sponsor for the Portland Timber!
MLS ruled jersey's sponsorship: Can't be alcoholic beverages or gambling companies and the deal as to be at least 500,000 per shirt. So Widmer will not be a Portland Timbers jersey sponsor. Maybe, Starbucks wants to sponsor your team! LOL!
In the spirit of economic stimulus, how about the US Army? Could give a whole new meaning to "Timbers Army"...and just think about all those fans with camo paint on match day.
When Toyota Park was built, VW wasn't a main sponsor of MLS. With VW sponsoring MLS, Toyota will not get many chances to stay as a main sponsor for the Portland Timber! You're right sort of-- Honda was the Leagues Official sponsor at the time. Teams can have their own sponsorships. Just look at RSL their "official Airline" is Jet Blue but the League "official Airline" is Ameican Airlines. In this financial climate any sponsorship shouldn't be overlooked.
It's a minor sponsorship, you will not see Jet Blue in RSL jerseys or neither in the stadium. The same thing for Houston Dynamo - Chevy sponsors the Dynamo but they don't have Chevy in the jersey or stadium because VW is one main sponsor of MLS - and many other examples. MLS will not allow conflits of interests with their sponsors.
Glidden is the official paint of MLS, yet the year after that deal was signed Chivas added Comex as a shirt sponsor. Why couldn't Portland keep Toyota? Other than the fact that it would make the San Jose, Salt Lake and LA sponsors look mickey-mouse by comparison....
Does anyone know how much the current USL team receives for the Toyota sponsorship? The sponsorship value for the MLS Timbers is going to be higher than for the USL iteration.
It's actually a sponsorship by local Toyota dealerships, not by full on Toyota. And I didn't realize we can't do beer or booze. Too bad. The fan preference has been for a local company like Widmer or Rogue. I will admit that we don't have a ton of local big companies. Adidas and Nike sponsor leagues, not individual teams... Intel hasn't done sponsorship before. Columbia Sportswear? I just hope we don't get a pyramid scheme like some teams have gotten recently. The PGE sponsorship deal with the stadium is also expiring soon. I imagine that the deal may be worth more for an MLS stadium than for USL 1 and AAA baseball, economic recession not withstanding.
Thanks for pointing that out, Todd. I was pretty sure that was the case, but I didn't want to be seen as a "troll" for saying so. I think Columbia Sportswear would be an awesome sponsor. While the Rogue logo would look sweet on your jerseys, do they have the bucks to make a sponsorship worth it?
That's a good question. My hunch is no. Tho' we have Rogue employees in the Shed, and apparently it's been discussed there at Rogue. Columbia would be great, and I prefer local companies being the sponsor. Something more authentic. So Microsoft actually is a good fit up there, for example.
It would be great if Nike jumped in after 2014 Adidas league wide contract was up and invested in the Timbers...then gave you the treatment they give the Oregon Ducks. Minus the horrible Uniforms of course.
We've been wearing Nike kits and...last year the quality was poor. Tearaway. And also the bland Total 90 kits that look like everyone else... I for one am excited about Adidas. Especially since they have already been talking about fan input. Nike never gave us a thing. Adidas already is handing out stuff and buying rounds of drinks at bars.
Yeah, and nobody else is going to get the Ducks treatment, because nobody else is the University of Oregon. Phil Knight likes to keep it close to home... by home I mean his Alma Mater.
As long as it's Budweiser. Before BMO signed up to be TFC's shirt sponsor, Carlsburg wanted to sponsor TFC (and set-up annual friendlies with their other sponsored teams -- Liverpool and FC Copenhagen) but MLS wouldn't let a competitor to one of the League sponsors put their name on TFC's kit.