Nets add to sponsorship roster, renew deals with others

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- The New Jersey Nets have renewed deals with 20 corporate sponsors and signed agreements with 10 new partners in moves that will generate $4.5 million annually.

Nets chief executive officer Brett Yormark announced the signings on Wednesday, a day after the NBA team opened its training camp.

The renewals, which include deals with major sponsors McDonald's, Wrigley's, Vonage, LG, and Canon, are worth more than $3 million annually, Yormark said.

The 10 new sponsorship agreements with Mars, Zappos.com, LTJ Arthur, MetroPCS, CURE Auto Insurance, Electronics Expo, the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, Hotelplanner.com, Lucky Strike Lanes and Pirate's Booty snack food are worth $1.5 million per year.

Yormark expects to announce deals with five or more new sponsors in the next two weeks.

"My philosophy has been to invest in our partners like never before," Yormark said in a telephone interview from Florida. "We have been traveling back and forth across the country working on deals."

Yormark said each of the deals has elements tailored to the specific company's communication goals.

Mars will launch an M&M's candy and merchandise store on the concourse of the Izod Center, offering Nets-branded M&M's licensed merchandise during games.

Zappos.com will be a signage and television partner, as well as participate in an initiative in which players will give game-used shoes to randomly selected fans after select home games.

LTJ Arthur, the France-based apparel retailer, is the presenting sponsor of the Nets Kids dance team and will also be a signage partner.

MetroPCS is a signage and promotional partner. The MetroPCS commitment for this season is in addition to its Founding Partner agreement announced in February for the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. When built, it will be the Nets' new home.

CURE Auto Insurance is the title sponsor of the Courtside Club and the press room at the Izod Center.

Electronics Expo, the high-end home entertainment electronics retailer based in New Jersey, is the presenting sponsor of the Match-Up Plan and will be the presenting sponsor of Nets Premiere Week. Fontainebleau Miami Beach is a signage and promotional partner along with Hotelplanner.com.

Lucky Strike Lanes will host the Nets Basketbowl charity event, and Pirate's Booty snack food will provide in-arena giveaways and sell its products at home games.

The sponsorship deals come a week after it was announced that Mikhail Prokhorov, Russia's richest man, had agreed to buy 80 percent of the financially strapped team and nearly half of a project to build the new arena in Brooklyn.

The deal has a number of contingencies: current owner Bruce Ratner must sell roughly $600 million in tax-exempt bonds by the end of the year, get a successful ruling in an eminent domain case next month and win approval of the NBA's board of governors.