In an untraditional move, Major League Baseball entered a new sponsorship agreement with Sheraton Hotels & Resorts and the Starwood Preferred Guest program starting in 2016, which will make them the official hotel and official hotel loyalty program of the MLB.
This partnership will bring Sheraton guests and SPG members complimentary access to MLB.TV and MLB network, allowing them to follow their teams while traveling. Additionally, there will be direct Sheraton booking links on the MLB website and participating teams’ schedule pages, making it easier for fans to possibly coordinate travel with baseball games.
But it doesn’t end there—participants also get a slew of perks like meeting players, going on the field after batting practice, and getting ticket deals. These benefits, however, will also start in 2016.
MLB’s Executive Vice President of Business, Noah Garden, said, “This new partnership will provide MLB content and unique experiences to Sheraton guests and SPG members, offering baseball fans an attractive benefit when making a hotel choice. In addition, MLB will deliver enormous visibility to millions of passionate baseball fans, giving Sheraton an important platform to showcase its new brand positioning.”
Sheraton’s Global Brand Leader Dave Marr also commented on the deal, saying, “The partnership provides Starwood with the ability to connect with the MLB fan base, a large and highly engaged audience that will help the brand’s repositioning and further drive loyalty.”
This partnership goes along with the MLB’s latest trend—this is the league’s eighth new corporate sponsor since the beginning of the season, and its total earnings from these deals are estimated to be around $250 million. These diverse sponsorships make sense as the MLB is currently trying to sell its brand across multiple platforms, according to current MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred.