Only days after the launch of the Middlesbrough 08/09 Home Errea kit vote, Middlesbrough Football Club has sealed its biggest ever sponsorship deal after signing an extension to its current agreement with Garmin.
The one-year extension means the name of Garmin will continue to appear on Boro's shirts during the 2008-09 season. The world leader in satellite navigation equipment, Garmin had initially signed a 12-month principal sponsorship contract for 2007-08 but both parties are delighted to have agreed a longer deal.
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Neil Bausor, Middlesbrough FC's Chief Operating Officer, said:
"The extension is great news for Middlesbrough FC, not only because of the financial benefits but also because of our association with such a forward-thinking, hi-tech company with a global outlook. "The new deal cements our relationship with Garmin and allows us an opportunity to forge a strong partnership over the next 18 months and drive both our success in football, business and community support.
"Garmin are keen to work with us in our wide-ranging community work and we look forward to exploring opportunities for their increasing involvement in this area.
"For example, Garmin are keen to use their expertise to provide training equipment to help the club's community project develop our health and fitness programmes that positively affect the lives of young people across Teesside."
Mr Bausor said that shirt sponsorship offered companies such as Garmin a unique opportunity to raise their profile. He revealed that the annual media value for companies sponsoring Premier League clubs reached into many millions of pounds.Clive Taylor, Garmin Marketing Director, expressed the company's enthusiasm by saying:
"Garmin is very proud to associate its name with such a prestigious Premier League club.
"Both organisations share the desire to be on the leading edge of our respective fields and believe the synergy we have around sports in the community, support for education and our desire to develop a better understanding of a healthy lifestyle means we can continue to develop our partnership over the rest of this season and beyond."
He added: "Our sponsorship of Middlesbrough FC has also inspired interest from all across Europe and has even developed a new fan base as far a field as Olathe, Kansas, where our America headquarters is based."
Garmin designs and manufactures a range of in-car sat-nav units and electronic equipment serving the outdoor, fitness, marine and aviation sectors with ground-breaking technologies that are sold throughout the world. In fact, Garmin has to date sold 25 million navigation devices worldwide.
