Expedia Sponsors Premier League Refs
Expedia, the world’s largest online travel agency, has signed a deal to sponsor officials in the Barclays Premier League, the npower Football League, The FA Cup with Budweiser, the Capital One Cup and other domestic, professional matches. The one year sponsorship Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMO), the governing body of officials, gives Expedia exposure at over 2,500 professional football matches, with an estimated cumulative global TV audience in excess of five billion.
“We’re proud to be the new sponsors of match officials. As the world’s largest online travel agent it seemed logical to associate with a sport that has a truly global audience. Travel represents one of the biggest online purchases an individual will make and this partnership celebrates the fact that, at its heart, Expedia supports good decision making," Andrew Warner, Senior Marketing Director of Expedia EMEA said. "Both sporting and travel decisions can carry huge financial and emotional implications. At Expedia we have helped travellers make good decisions for over fifteen years and welcome the newly formed association with some of the highest profile decision makers from the world of sport.”
“We are very pleased to welcome Expedia as PGMO’s new official sponsor, the support of partners significantly helps in the training and development of officials at all levels of the game," PGMO General Manager Mike Riley said. "We have a world class team of decision makers in the Select Group, which is why there have been over 80 FIFA and UEFA international appointments for Select Group referees in the past year. We are also one of only three European nations with three Elite FIFA referees: Howard Webb and Martin Atkinson have respectively taken charge of UEFA Champions League and Europe League semi- finals, and now we have Mark Clattenburg officiating the Olympic Men’s Final. With the standard of officiating improving season on season, it’s a good time for Expedia to partner with us.”
PGMO plays an active role in developing refereeing standards across the world of football. As part of the Expedia deal, the travel company will receive an arm patch on referee kits.
“We see this as an opportunity to work with the professional game, highlighting match officials as role models and respected decision makers. There will be plenty of opportunities for our customers around the world to get involved with the partnership too,” added Warner.
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