Aviva replaces Guinness in rugby sponsorship
Financial services company Aviva has agreed a four-year, £20m sponsorship deal with Premiership Rugby, replacing current sponsor Guinness.
The new deal will see Aviva work alongside the league on both the elite side of the game as well as investment in community programmes.
The deal has been brokered by Hill & Knowlton’s sports marketing team and begins immediately, with an official launch scheduled for closer to the start of the 2010/11 rugby season.
Premiership Rugby’s commercial director Jon Varney said of the new deal: "Our partnership with Aviva marks the beginning of a very exciting chapter in the growth and continuing professional development of the club game in England, as we commence new broadcast contracts for the first season of Aviva Premiership Rugby with ESPN, Sky and ITV.”
And Mark Hodges (pictured), chief executive at Aviva UK, commented: "We have invested a lot of time and effort looking for and researching the right sponsorship opportunity and we know that rugby, the fastest-growing participation sport in England, fits absolutely with Aviva."