Athletes Unlimited adds 9 partners
- EY to serve as official sponsor during upcoming basketball, volleyball seasons; Baden Sports joins basketball partner roster
- Gatorade, GigLabs, Nike, Topps, VKTRY extend overall partnerships through 2022; Blue Sky CBD, WEST + WILDER extend partnerships for basketball, volleyball seasons
Athletes Unlimited today announced the addition of two new partners and the extension of seven others prior to Wednesday’s start of the first of five seasons of play across four women’s professional sports in 2022. Global professional services provider EY joins as an official sponsor of Athletes Unlimited Basketball and Volleyball, and Baden Sports becomes the Official Ball Partner of Athletes Unlimited Basketball.
Meanwhile, official partners Nike (Official Uniform, Footwear and Training Partner), Gatorade (Official Beverage Partner) and Topps (Official Trading Card Partner), along with Supporting Performance Insole Partner VKTRY, have extended their relationships with Athletes Unlimited through 2022, while Blue Sky CBD (Supporting CBD Partner) and WEST + WILDER (Supporting Wine Partner) have renewed through the first two seasons of the year. Further, Athletes Unlimited and GigLabs will continue their NFT-based partnership through 2022.
As part of its sponsorship during the 2022 basketball and volleyball seasons, EY will present a new civic leadership award for activity completed across Athletes Unlimited leagues over the past year. EY will also deliver a workshop as part of the Athletes+ program, which provides resources to help athletes achieve success off the field of play.
In addition to Baden being the official ball of Athletes Unlimited Basketball, the partnership also involves the creation of ‘The Baden Assist,’ a program that gives each of the four podium athletes plus the Defensive Player of the Year the opportunity to donate 100 Baden basketballs to an organization or community of their choice.
Nike, Topps and WEST + WILDER are founding partners of Athletes Unlimited, having signed on prior to the first season of Athletes Unlimited Softball in 2020, while the Gatorade and VKTRY partnerships initiated in early 2021 prior to Athletes Unlimited’s first volleyball season and Blue Sky CBD came on in mid-2021 before the inaugural lacrosse season. Blue Sky CBD, Gatorade, Nike and VKTRY will also continue serving as partners of the Athletes Unlimited Innovation Lab, which provides access to cutting edge, validated and scientifically proven products to reduce injuries and optimize performance on and off the field of play.
Athletes Unlimited Co-Founder/CEO Jon Patricof said: “The new and continued support Athletes Unlimited is receiving from blue-chip brands is testament to growing interest in our innovative model and women’s professional sports. These sponsorships align with our values as an organization and help amplify our programming on and off the field or court, while providing robust and purposeful exposure opportunities for the partners.”
Additional Athletes Unlimited partners include Aspiration (Official Social Impact Neobank Partner), GEICO (Official Home & Auto Insurance Partner) and Guaranteed Rate (Official Mortgage Partner). In 2022, Aspiration and GEICO will begin activating during the basketball season, while Guaranteed Rate will commence activity with volleyball.
