Islanders Sign Official Cupcake Deal
CNBC Sports Business Reporter
Among the standard sports sponsorship categories it is not, but the New York Islandershave signed an official cupcake supplier.
The tale is, as you might have guessed, not as vanilla as most sponsorship deals.
It’s a story of a woman named Brady.
Amy Brady, to be exact.
As she tells it, she was disappointed one night when she couldn’t find a cupcake at an Islanders game.
So, as owner of Cupcake Gourmet, a nearby business that boasts a rotation of more than 120 different cupcake flavors including Snickers, Malted Milk Ball and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Brady asked Islanders officials if her business could become the official cupcake of the team.
For the Islanders, it was something out of the box. So they brought the deal to Savor, the concessionaire of the Nassau Coliseum — where the team plays its home games. The company agreed to split its revenues with Brady.
“This is truly a non-traditional offering for most sports and entertainment venues,” said Justin Johnson, the team’s senior vice president of corporate partnerships and marketing. “We are thrilled to launch this partnership with Amy and Cupcake Gourmet as we continually enhance the everyday menu board for our fans.”
Brady will have a portable concession cart at all home games and will of course sell Islanders-themed orange, blue and white cupcakes. The partnership includes a “Lucky Row” promotion in which a row of fans at certain games will win free cupcakes.
Whether it's win or lose for the Islanders, at least it will be the first time icing at a hockey game actually turns out to be a good thing.
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