David Beckham and his Los Angeles Galaxy teammates will promote a nutritional products manufacturer in his first MLS season. | | |
AEG, operators of the Galaxy, announced the signing of a five-year, multimillion sponsorship contract with Herbalife Ltd. on Friday, giving the direct-sales company the right to showcase its brand name across the front of the team jersey.
The agreement first was reported Thursday night in the online edition of the Wall Street Journal, which said the deal would pay the Galaxy between $3.5 million and $5 million a year through 2011.
MLS became the first American professional league to sell its jersey front last fall, and the Galaxy is the second team to do so. Real Salt Lake was the first, agreeing to a four-year deal with the Utah-based supplement juice company XanGo in November. Such sponsorship is common in Europe.
"With the tremendous amount of global exposure the Galaxy is expected to generate in the upcoming season, the time was clearly right for a professional league in the United States to create this branding platform," Shawn Hunter, the president of AEG Sports, said in a statement.
The Galaxy guaranteed that global exposure when they signed English star Beckham to a deal in January. The team opens the season April 8, and Beckham is expected to make his MLS debut in July.
Herbalife first became a sponsor of AEG-owned and operated events in 2005.
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