The Sept. 18 Oscar De La Hoya-Felix Trinidad pay-per-view
fight has drawn several major, nontraditional PPV-event sponsors from the Internet and
retail-sneaker businesses.
Internet portal Excite Inc., computer-software company
Golden Ram and sneaker retailer Puma will join Anheuser-Busch Inc.'s Budweiser Beer as the
first of what could be several top-line sponsors for the
world-welterweight-champion-unification fight, TVKO vice president and general manager Dan
York said.
Excite will be TVKO's official online partner, and it will
preside over a number of Internet-related promotions and campaigns. The company will build
a special Web site for the event featuring fight-camp diaries from the boxers, as well as
frequent chats with both champions.
Also, the company will provide downloadable footage of past
Trinidad and De La Hoya fights, as well as streamed-video footage from the camps. And it
will provide a live video stream of TVKO's two-day barker-channel preview show leading up
to the event, York said.
An online sweepstakes with a free trip to the fight as its
grand prize will appear on the site, as well.
Puma will provide a multimillion-dollar, target-marketed
television-ad campaign promoting the PPV event, York said. In addition, the company will
provide retail tie-ins within sporting-goods stores around the country.
Golden Ram will also provide marketing and promotional
support for the event, York added. And Budweiser will tag its national television ads with
promos for the fight.
"De La Hoya-Trinidad is as good as a boxing and
sporting event can get," York said. "It has generated unprecedented interest
from consumer brands that are new not only to boxing, but to PPV."
He added that TVKO is "in discussions" with major
companies in other business categories for potential fight sponsorships.
The company, however, has yet to reach a distribution
agreement with Viewer's Choice for the bout. York did say that TVKO is "close to
finalizing a deal with Viewer's Choice," and that it could be completed by this week.
