Fenway Sports Group lassoed Professional Bull Riders, Inc. in a four-year deal unveiled last week as that sport’s exclusive sponsorship sales agency.
At first glance, the move represents a distinct departure for FSG, a subsidiary of New England Sports Ventures, which owns the Boston Red Sox, Fenway Park and the New England Sports Network. But along with its involvement in Major League Baseball, FSG also represents Roush Fenway Racing—which it partly owns—and the Volvo Ocean Race.
While pro bull riding clearly occupies a niche in the non-mainstream sports market, nearly 2 million fans attend PBR-sanctioned events each year and 100 million viewers tune in coverage of the events on Fox, NBC and Versus, as well as other networks that carry the sport in international markets.
Ford, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Discovery and Copenhagen, the chewing tobacco marketer, are currently title sponsors for disparate series in the PBR circuit events, and FSG sees a big potential is expanding supporting product categories for the sport.
“They have a multitude of blue chip categories that are available for cultivation,” Brian Corcoran, FSG executive vice president, said.
Beer, soft drinks, quick service restaurants, consumer electronics and insurance are among the categories that can be mined for PBR, according to Corcoran, who cited McDonald’s—a major Red Sox marketing partner on FSG’s current client list—as a potential PBR sponsor.
As he did through initiatives such as Gillette Young Guns in NASCAR before joining FSG, Corcoran wants to heighten the profiles of bull riders with sponsor support.
“We want to align with sponsors who can help build household awareness of the riders themselves,” he said.
Sean Gleason, PBR chief operating office, cited FSG’s “unmatched list of corporate contacts” as a prime asset in a statement about the deal.
News of the deal broke as the PBR’s second event in this season’s Built Tough Ford Series was about to commence on Friday in Madison Square Garden, a venue that indicates the sport’s current reach. All eight Built Ford Tough events on last year’s tour were televised by NBC or Fox.
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