The Texas Rangers and Toyota today announced that the club and Japanese automaker have entered into a multi-year partnership where Toyota becomes the Official Truck Sponsor of the American league team.
The sponsorship “will highlight Toyota’s two Texas-built trucks, Tacoma and Tundra.”
It’s now only a question of time in Major Greed baseball before logos start appearing on uniforms as team owners pursue more and more revenue.
The multi-year Toyota deal extends through 2018 and provides Toyota with branding and naming rights for 12 of the Rangers’ parking lots adjacent to the ballpark in Arlington. In addition, Toyota receives outfield wall, video board, home plate, and LED signs, and becomes the exclusive sponsor of video replays at Globe Life Park in Arlington.
Toyota employees are also expected to support volunteer efforts of the Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation within the community.
To be fair, Toyota – as do many, many other companies, is only taking advantage of a marketing opportunity offered by Major Greed baseball. The question is when does hype and selling end? We are dangerously close to not playing ball, but playing mall.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
