American Airlines (AA) just announced a major sponsorship deal with Major League Soccer (MLS) that will establish it as the “Official Airline of Major League Soccer,” the “Official Airline of MLS Cup,” the “Official Airline of the MLS All-Star Game,” and the “Official Airline of the SuperLiga.”
The deal gives the airline access to millions of U.S Latino soccer fans who follow local teams from cities such as Chicago, New York, D.C., Columbus, and L.A., as well as star players like David Beckham, Mexico’s Cuauhtémoc Blanco and Duilio Davino.
La fanaticada del fútbol (soccer fans) will be exposed to AA’s offerings and services to Latin America and México on regular league matches as well as in the SuperLiga, which is a tournament played every year between MLS teams and Mexico’s Primera Division (professional league). SuperLiga is a competition that usually evokes passion among fans and that is followed by more than 10 million T.V. viewers from both sides of the border.
AA seems to understand that a fútbol game is the best opportunity for targeting Latino males, since no other event can provide at least 90 minutes of their undivided attention.
The AA-MLS partnership will generate a lot of interest among Latinos — but will AA be able to fully meet that demand for information? I hope that AA has in the works a better Spanish-language version of their Web page to meet that demand.
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