Vodafone today announces a new agreement with the England and Wales Cricket Board with a commitment to continue its sponsorship of the England Cricket Team for a further four years. Vodafone has been the team sponsor since the 1997 tour to the West Indies and this agreement will now continue through to the end of the 2009 Ashes Series.
The new commercial partnership provides Vodafone with a full package of sponsorship rights; branding on all playing and training kit, extensive access to the England players, and exclusive 3G mobile content. Starting with this summer's Ashes series, all Vodafone live! with 3G customers will be able to watch video highlights of all the action from England's home matches on their mobile phone.
Commenting on the agreement, Peter Bamford, Vodafone Group's Chief Marketing Officer said, "We are pleased to announce this new partnership with the England and Wales Cricket Board which extends our relationship with the England Cricket Team. The inclusion of the 3G cricket rights in this deal further expands the parameters of our partnership and ensures that cricket fans across the country will be able to catch the action on the field wherever they are."
David Collier, Chief Executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board added, "The ECB places great value on Vodafone's commitment to English cricket and we look forward to another successful partnership. This four year agreement, which includes sponsorship of the England "A" Team, the England Women's Team and the ECB National Cricket Academy Teams, demonstrates Vodafone's ongoing commitment to cricket and provides the ECB with valuable support in our longer term objective of delivering continuing success at the national level."
Notes to editors:
About Vodafone
Vodafone is the world's largest mobile community with 154.8 million proportionate customers, equity interests in 27 countries and Partner Networks in a further 14 countries.
For further information about Vodafone, please visit the Vodafone Group
Web site: www.vodafone.com/ .
For further information contact:
Maria Bellanca
Head of Group Sports Sponsorship PR
Vodafone Group
Tel: +44 (0) 7919 228228
E-mail: maria.bellanca@vodafone.com
Colin Gibson
Head of Communications ECB
Tel: + 44 (0) 207 432 1200
E-mail: colin.gibson@ecb.co.uk
