CIS, Mitsubishi announce $1M sponsorship agreement

CIS, Mitsubishi announce $1M sponsorship agreement

January 10, 2008

OTTAWA (CIS) - Canadian Interuniversity Sport proudly announced Thursday a new three-year sponsorship agreement with Mitsubishi Motor Sales of Canada Inc., set to kick off during the 2008 CIS winter championship season.

The agreement, in excess of one million dollars, ties in to all CIS championships and many other CIS activities and initiatives such as the All-Canadian program and the weekly national rankings (Top Ten Tuesday). Mitsubishi becomes a major partner of CIS sports, the presenting sponsor of all CIS championships and, along with Desjardins, a major partner in CIS television programming.

In addition, Mitsubishi and CIS will launch the Go Far Award, to be presented at every CIS championship to the athlete that illustrated the most perseverance to succeed and inspired those around him/her to achieve more.

Mitsubishi will also be offering exclusive vehicle purchase discounts to all varsity athletes, to reward them for being an important part of their university and for excelling in their chosen sport.

"Mitsubishi is a great, young brand that is very attractive to the university market," commented CIS Director of Marketing, Peter Metuzals. "Their support will help grow the CIS brand and help CIS further pursue its primary objective of enhancing television coverage and webcasting of key events."

"We have entered into a long term association with CIS which allows us to play a worthwhile supporting role in the country wide CIS championships," said Larry Futers, Director of National Marketing for MMSCAN. "And we are very pleased to be involved in helping to raise the public profile of university sport and overall athleticism. At Mitsubishi we view ourselves as an athletic brand, and the positive association with such noble competition can only enhance the prospects of all involved."

"Our involvement with amateur sport is not going to be arms length," continued Futers. "We are in this for the long term and intend to interact with young athletes in a variety of ways, and through a variety of media, including the Internet and through associations with specialty communicators like the many television broadcasters already partnering with CIS."

The 2008 CIS winter championship season kicks off February 21-23 in Vancouver with the swimming Nationals hosted by UBC.

About Canadian Interuniversity Sport

Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Fifty-one members, 10,000 student-athletes and 550 coaches vie for 19 national championships in 11 different sports. The CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, and 27 World University Championships. For further information, visit www.universitysport.ca

About Mitsubishi Motors Canada

Mitsubishi Motor Sales of Canada, Inc. (MMSCAN), is the exclusive Canadian distributor of a full line of Mitsubishi Motors' brand passenger cars and sport utility vehicles. MMSCAN markets three categories of vehicles - sedans, sports cars and sport utility vehicles - consisting of six distinctive vehicles covering a broad market range. These include the Mitsubishi Lancer, Galant, Eclipse, Eclipse Spyder, Outlander and Endeavor. Currently there are 67 Mitsubishi dealerships nationwide, with plans to increase this number over the next three years.

-CIS-

For more information contact:

Peter Metuzals
Director of Marketing
Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Ph: (613) 562-5670 ext. 27
Fax: (613) 562-5669
peterm@universitysport.ca
www.universitysport.ca

Susan Elliott
Mitsubishi Motor Sales of Canada, Inc.
Manager, Corporate and Product Communications
Ph: (905) 833-0826
selliott@mmsa.com

or

Jacquie Adams
Mitsubishi Motor Sales of Canada, Inc.
Ph: (416) 995-0308
jac.adams@sympatico.ca

Last Updated: 2008-01-15
Author: Scott Stewart