Infront Italy, an arm of the Wanda-owned sports marketing agency, has been exclusively appointed by the National Basketball Association to market the league’s sponsorship rights in Italy.
The domestic remit marks the first time that the NBA has worked with a sports marketing agency to represent the league’s sponsorship rights in Italy.
Infront Italy will be the only third party authorised to represent the NBA in Italy for sponsorship sales.
The agency said that it will work closely with the NBA and leverage Infront’s “vast Italian network and local expertise to source potential business prospects”.
Infront Italy operates from its offices in Milan and Rome and represents various Serie A and Serie B football clubs, basketball teams, national federations and brands. Earlier this month, Infront won another piece of new business in Italy as it finalised an agreement to organise the Rome Marathon, along with selling the race’s broadcast and sponsorship rights.
Italian national team players Danilo Gallinari (pictured) and Marco Belinelli both currently ply their trade at NBA teams, playing for Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs, respectively.
Mark Osikoya, the NBA’s associate vice-president of global partnerships in Europe and the Middle East, remarked: “There has never been a better time to be an NBA fan in Italy. With the anticipation building ahead of the upcoming season that will feature three players from Italy, the first NBA Store in Europe located in Milan and a strong set of existing marketing partners, we look forward to working with Infront to further grow our sponsorship business in Italy.”
Alessandro Giacomini, Infront Italy’s managing director of business, added: “Given the growing fan base the NBA is enjoying in Italy, we are convinced we can support and strengthen the NBA to create interesting and valuable business partnerships.”
The NBA this week announced a broadcast rights extension in Italy as it agreed a new four-year contract with pay-TV broadcaster Sky Italia.
As part of that deal, Sky Italia will continue its role running the NBA’s Italian website, which will host “extensive video highlights” along with news, stats, scores, in-depth analysis and content produced specifically for that platform.
