Raising Cane's chicken finger chain cuts one-year, six-figure deal to have Raiders players on the side of its cups and will be official "community partner." That is not an actual cup at the stores.

After Last Week’s Scoop, Raiders and Raising Cane’s Make It Official: They Have a Sponsorship Deal

By ALAN SNEL

 

LVSportsBiz.com first reported last week the Raiders and Raising Cane’s fastfood chain cut a one-year, six-figure sponsorship deal for Raising Cane’s to place photos of Raiders players on its soda cups, but today both sides officially went public with the agreement.

 

LVSportsBiz.com photographer Daniel Clark snapped this photo of the big cup — not the actual size at Raising Cane’s stores.

 

Kudos to the chicken finger chain for being the first company out of the box in Las Vegas to cut a sponsorship deal with the Raiders, even though the NFL team won’t christen its $1.8 billion domed stadium at Russell Road and Polaris Avenue until 2020.  They even beat the Findlay car dealerships to the Raiders sponsorship punch. The Findlays are known for their sports sponsorships and TV commercials and, like Raising Cane’s, are big sponsors of UNLV sports.

 

For the record, Raising Cane’s is an official “community partner” of the Raiders in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman wondered where the chicken fingers were at Wednesday’s announcement. Photo Credit: Daniel Clark/LVSportsBiz.com

 

 

Justin Micatrotto, Raising Cane’s marketing man on the deal, said he jumped at the chance for the chain to be the Raiders’ first sponsor when he heard the Raiders had installed their charitable arm in the Las Vegas market.

 

Raising Cane’s marketing man Justin Micatrotto discusses the sponsorship with the Raiders.  Photo credit: Daniel Clark/LVSportsBiz.com

 

Micatrotto first chatted with a Raiders sales rep back when they had places in Redondo Beach, Calif. about Raising Cane’s working a sponsorship deal with the Raiders. That’s how far back this deal went.

 

The Raiders and Raising Cane’s held their announcement in front of the Thomas & Mack Center on the UNLV campus.

 

The usual politicos showed up such as Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman and Clark County Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak, along with UNLV’s new athletic director, Desiree Reed-Francois. There’s Reed-Francois chatting with head football coach Tony Sanchez.

 

 

Goodman spoke for many who attended when she uttered, “Why are you not serving?”

 

Contact LVSportsBiz.com founder/writer Alan Snel at asnel@LVSportsBiz.com

 

Alan Snel

Alan Snel brings decades of sports-business reporting experience to LVSportsBiz.com. Snel covered the business side of sports for the South Florida (Fort Lauderdale) Sun-Sentinel, the Tampa Tribune and Las Vegas Review-Journal. As a city hall beat reporter, Snel also covered stadium deals in Denver and Seattle. In 2000, Snel launched a sport-business website for FoxSports.com called FoxSportsBiz.com. After reporting sports-business for the RJ, Snel wrote hard-hitting stories on the Raiders stadium for the Desert Companion magazine in Las Vegas and The Nevada Independent. Snel is also one of the top bicycle advocates in the country.