New Zealand Rugby is reportedly in negotiations with Amazon to replace AIG as the All Blacks’ front jersey sponsor, according to the New Zealand Herald.
At $13.9 million, the deal would be the biggest jersey sponsorship in rugby history. NZR’s current deal, set to expire this year, is estimated to be worth $12 million.
Though Amazon is best known as an e-commerce site, the tech giant continues to expand into sports.
- February: Amazon Web Services became the official cloud, AI, and machine learnings infrastructure provider of the NHL.
- March: Secured its first exclusive NFL deal to broadcast “Thursday Night Football” at $1 billion per season.
- May: Secured exclusive streaming rights to 16 WNBA games per season.
- June: Signed a three-year deal to broadcast Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 games for $333.2 million per year.
Amazon is no stranger to rugby, having bought broadcast rights for the 2020 Autumn Nations Cup and produced the 2017 “All or Nothing” docu-series featuring the All Blacks.
The company will forgo using its logo in favor of promoting The Climate Pledge initiative, which aims to hold companies accountable in regard to the Paris Agreement on climate change.
In June 2020, Amazon agreed to a naming rights deal for Seattle’s new downtown arena, for between $300 million and $400 million. The Climate Pledge Arena will be home to the Seattle Storm and Seattle Kraken.
UK-based Ineos recently made a deal to become a secondary All Blacks sponsor for an estimated $5.7 million each year.
