In early 2023, BMO Financial signed a 10-year contract with LAFC for naming rights to its soccer-specific stadium. Now the bank is doubling down on its relationship with the MLS club by also adding jersey sponsorship rights to its marketing portfolio under a deal to be announced on Thursday.
“It is deepening a partnership that we really love,” Catherine Roche, the chief marketing officer of BMO Financial Group, said in a phone interview. “We are really looking to grow our brand and set our new footprint. L.A. is a hugely important market for us, and LAFC’s brand is a tremendous way to engage authentically with a community that is new to us.”
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Last year, BMO—or the Bank of Montreal, as it’s also known—completed its $16.3 billion acquisition of Bank of the West from BNP Paribas. The purchase was part of a strategic expansion in the U.S., particularly in California.
The double-dip with jersey and stadium sponsorships is rare in sports, but there are now three MLS teams with the same jersey and stadium sponsor. Along with LAFC, Toronto FC also has a stadium and jersey sponsorship with BMO. And the New York Red Bulls have a stadium and jersey sponsorship with Red Bull; the club takes their sponsorship a step further, given that Red Bull is also part of the team name.
“To put your two most significant partnerships in a single relationship has great advantages from an efficiency standpoint,” LAFC co-president Larry Freedman said in an interview. “We’re going to help each other elevate our respective brands in bigger and better ways.”
BMO replaces Flex, whose three-year jersey deal ended after the 2023 season. The Flex agreement was worth an estimated $5 million annually, and the new pact with BMO is likely worth at least twice as much. (LAFC and BMO would not comment on the value of the multi-year sponsorship.)
BMO has been using soccer as a marketing platform and a way to engage in its communities for 20 years and invested $20 million to develop youth soccer in Canada during that time. In addition to Toronto FC, BMO has also partnered with CF Montreal and the Vancouver Whitecaps within MLS.
Roche said that BMO loves the growth rate of soccer, as well as the younger demographic and gender balance with the sport.
Yesterday, Real Salt Lake and the Utah Royals announced a jersey deal with Intermountain Health’s insurance arm, Select Health, that is worth between $9 million and $10 million a year on average. The pact is worth roughly three times what LifeVantage previously paid for its name on RSL’s jersey front. The increased RSL pact, along with LAFC’s new deal, rides the wave caused by significant increase in attention on MLS since Lionel Messi signed with Inter Miami FC last summer.
LAFC—which has reached the MLS Cup the last two years, winning in 2022—is the most valuable club in MLS, worth $1.15 billion, up 28% from a year ago. It was one of just four teams that sold out every game last year. Additionally, the number of non-MLS events hosted at BMO Stadium has soared, with 1.3 million tickets for concerts, festivals and soccer matches sold in 2023.
LAFC kicks off its 2024 MLS season on Feb. 24 at home against Seattle.
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