Bridgestone Returns as Title Sponsor of UK NFL Match

American football fans in the UK rejoice – the NFL is returning to our shores, once again with title sponsorship from Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire. The company announced on October 13 it has returned for a second season as title sponsor to the Bridgestone International Series.
The Bridgestone brand, which also is the “Official Tire of the National Football League” and title sponsor of the Bridgestone Super Bowl Halftime Show, will play a key role in the promotion of the San Diego Chargers-New Orleans Saints game to be played at London’s Wembley Stadium on October 26. Bridgestone’s involvement will include field-level LED boards with brand logos, stadium signage, presenting sponsorship of the pre-game show on Sky Sports, video board features and print programme advertisements.

“As a global company, sponsoring the International Series game is a terrific opportunity for the Bridgestone brand to get high exposure here in the United States, in Europe and beyond,” said John Baratta, president, Consumer Replacement Tire, BFNT. “We’re thrilled that the Bridgestone NFL International Series has been such a success and is helping us reach football fans across the world with our message that for drivers who want to get the most out of their cars…it’s Bridgestone or nothing.”

The game will be televised in more than 200 countries worldwide. CBS will broadcast the game in the United States, while BBC Two and Sky Sports will both air the game in the UK, making it one of only a handful of major sports events to be broadcast simultaneously live. Excitement for this year’s game is unprecedented, comments Bridgestone. In May, the first 40,000 tickets for the game sold out in 90 minutes. An additional 15,000 tickets made available in June sold within 30 minutes.

“We are pleased to welcome Bridgestone back to the International Series,” said Mark Waller, the NFL’s senior vice president of Marketing and Sales. “We continue to see tremendous excitement from our sponsors and fans who are clamouring for more football. We expect the atmosphere to be electric when the Saints and Chargers take the field.”

The NFL has committed to playing at least one game in the UK for each of the next three seasons, beginning with this year’s matchup of teams that each came within one game of reaching the Super Bowl in the past two seasons. The New York Giants and Miami Dolphins played at the start of last season in the first Bridgestone International Series in front of a sellout crowd of 81,176 at Wembley Stadium. The Giants earned a 13-10 victory en route to capturing a Super Bowl title.