August 7 – German carmaker Opel has extended and expanded its deal with Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund for a another five years. Opel will have its logo on the sleeve of the Dortmund shirt and will have increased branding and marketing activation throughout the club.
This is the first season Bundesliga clubs have been to able sell the sleeve advertising position themselves – previously there was a league-wide deal with Hermes.
This is the eighth sleeve deal agreed by a Bundesliga club, the others being RB Leipzig: CG Group, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim: Prowin, Hertha BSC: Tedi, FC Schalke 04: Allyouneed, Eintracht Frankfurt: Deutsche Börse, VfB Stuttgart: Garmo / Gazi.
Opel is an active football sponsor, holding the naming rights to the FSV Mainz 05 stadium which is a short distance from Opel headquarters in Rüsselsheim. The car maker also holds sponsorships with Bayer Leverkusen and Fortuna Düsseldorf, though its deal with SC Freiburg expired at the end of the 2016/17 season and has not been renewed.
Under the new deal with Dortmund, Opel will have the right to use Dortmund players and club branding in its national advertising campaigns. A sponsor of Dortmund since 2012, the new deal will start with the 2017/18 season and end with the 2021/22 season. No value was give for the deal.
“Unlike the three other strategic BVB partners – main sponsor Evonik, supplier Puma and Signal Iduna who hold the naming rights to the stadium – Opel will not become a shareholder,” said an Opel press release.
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