By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
FIBA entered a global partnership with multi-national technology brand TCL based in China, the International Basketball Federation announced Thursday. The new agreement marks a very strong signal of value for the FIBA brand worldwide, especially under the current conditions brought by the coronavirus and despite no events planned in the Asian country.
Per FIBA: “FIBA, the International Basketball Federation, and TCL have announced an entirely new global partnership, following the fruitful relationship between FIBA and TCL at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019, hosted across eight cities last year in China.
The announcement was made today at the IFA, Internationale Funkausstellung, the world’s leading trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances, in Berlin. The timing of the new partnership reflects the continued global commercial appeal of FIBA amidst the current challenges facing the sports industry.
This four-year partnership follows the global partnership agreement that was first signed in 2018 and will run through until December 31, 2023. Under the terms of the agreement, TCL is granted exclusivity in the categories of home appliances including TVs, refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners.
The new, expanded agreement provides key commercial rights across all FIBA competitions including the men’s and women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournaments, FIBA Continental Cups for both men and women, FIBA Youth World Cups, the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 and FIBA’s pinnacle event the FIBA Basketball World Cup in 2023.
Specific rights for these events include premium brand visibility on the court and the role of presenter of the player of the game, “TCL Player of the Game”, while TCL has also been granted the exclusive Presenting Sponsorship rights for the Asian Qualifiers for both the Asia Cup 2021 and the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.
Andreas Zagklis, FIBA Secretary General, said: “We are delighted to enter this exciting new partnership with TCL, following our hugely successful collaboration over the last two years. Our original partnership was mainly focused on the World Cup in China. We are thrilled that this has now expanded to be a more all-encompassing partnership across all FIBA competitions. Our continued cooperation and the longer-term commitment from TCL attest to their passion for our sport and appreciation of the opportunities FIBA’s unique global marketing platform offers to showcase TCL’s innovative technology.”
Yuki Wei, Vice President of TCL said: “TCL is honored to enter into this new cooperation with FIBA for the next four years. In the first stage of our partnership between 2018 and 2019, through our successful collaboration together, we experienced international events such as the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup and the FIBA Basketball World Cup, which brought passion and joy to basketball audiences worldwide. Working together again with FIBA, TCL will continue to accelerate their international presence and contribute to the development and progress of global basketball.”
TCL is one of the dominant players in the global TV industry and a leading consumer electronics company. Founded in 1981, it has a presence in more than 160 countries worldwide. TCL has a long history in basketball and was a key partner at the recent FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019.
The TCL Player of the Game was a successful addition to the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019, with TCL top management and the late Kobe Bryant presenting the Final’s award to Spain’s Ricky Rubio, at the closing ceremony in Beijing.
The partnership showcased the cutting-edge technology of TCL’s products as TCL worked together with FIBA to design a variety of Official FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 special edition products, such as the TCL QLED TV – FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Edition. The specially designed TV delivers AI-enabled hardware in smart sports mode, MEMC anti-shake technology and network accelerator 2.0 technology which provides sports fans with the best sound and image quality when watching basketball games.
This agreement was brokered by FIBA Marketing, the strategic partnership between FIBA and Infront.”