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.
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.
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