JetBlue Airways has been snapping up sponsorships with sports teams across the country in the past 18 months, including the Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers and Angels, Buffalo Bills, Texas Longhorns and New York Jets.

On Friday, the airline announced its first ever sponsorship with a hockey team and arena, becoming the official – and exclusive – airline partner of the Florida Panthers and BankAtlantic Center. Already, JetBlue’s signage is on the awnings over the arena’s doorways and dots the plaza in front of the building.

By January, a signature JetBlue tailfin is to be added to the plaza – the first ever installation for the airline. (See rendering above).

To honor the new multi-year partnership – and the addition of the airline’s 18th destination from Fort Lauderdale (starting Nov. 17 to San Francisco) – the airline is offering 18 percent off on bookings made today for travel Dec. 2-16 made at www.jetblue.com/bac

Officials would not disclose the financial details, but a release about the deal says it will include joint marketing and advertising through 2011. It is expected to include special travel packages for Panthers fans to attend away games and for fans in cities JetBlue serves to visit South Florida and take in a Panthers home game.

Panthers President Michael Yormark announced the partnership Friday on the arena’s front plaza, which will know be known as the JetBlue Tarmac, saying “Today, the BankAtlantic Center gets more leg room. Today the Florida Panthers become true blue.”

Marty St. George, JetBlue senior vice president of marketing and commercial strategy, said the airline considered other sponsor opportunities in South Florida, but chose to partner with Sunrise Sports & Entertainment, the Panthers’ parent company and operator of BankAtlantic Center, because of the variety of events the company oversees.

“It’s not just a team,” St. George said. “The building has 200 plus events a year. Over 2 million people have come in every single year to various events. And I think that’s something we saw as a great kicker on top of it, which is not only do we get to work with a dynamic team that I think has got a great future, we also have the opportunity to get our name in front of customers that come here for all the different events … This is a dream opportunity.”

The announcement also included a concert by Cobra Starship, and was attended by JetBlue employees, as well as Panthers coach Pete DeBoer and team limited partners Cliff Viner and Stu Siegel.

Viner and Siegel are expected to buy a portion of majority owner Alan Cohen's stake in the team and be named co-general partners. Cohen will retain a stake in the team, but will no longer make team decisions. Viner and Siegel weren't talking Friday, but the restructured ownership situation is expected to be announced next week.

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Miami Heat guard Mario Chalmers and forward Udonis Haslem will be visiting fans and signing autographs in the Cubavera section at Macy’s at Dadeland Mall on Saturday.

The Heat stars will appear from 5 to 6 p.m. at the mall, 7303 SW 88th St., Miami. One autograph per customer. Fans who make a Cubavera purchase of at least $50 will be escorted to the front of the autograph line. And two free Heat tickets will be given to the first 50 fans who make a $50 purchase (clearance items excluded).

For more information visit the team’s Web site.

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If you’re a sports fan in South Florida, chances are you’ve seen RRA’s logo. Or heard of one of the companies Scott Rothstein’s invested in. That’s because Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler has been rapidly racking up sports sponsorships and teaming with local athletes and their charitable organizations.
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Remember those billboards featuring Rothstein with Dan Marino, promoting RRA’s partnership with the Dan Marino Foundation? RRA served as a presenting sponsor of The Summer Groove, hosted by Alonzo Mourning and Dwyane Wade, held in July at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood.

Ten days ago – not long before it became public Rothstein was under investigation -- RRA was the sponsor of the Miami Dolphins 2009 Alumni Weekend. RRA sponsors the Heat and messages promoting the firm's connections with Marino’s and Mourning’s charities have flashed from the giant MediaMesh LED marquee on the front of AmericanAirlines Arena that overlooks Biscayne Boulevard. There’s even an RRA ad in the Miami Heat’s opening night program.

RRA has a sponsorship deal at BankAtlantic Center with the Florida Panthers. Three other companies in which Rothstein has an investment -- Bova, Renato and V Georgio Vodka -- also have sponsorship agreements with the team and arena. Bova sponsors the Panthers' Ice Dancers.

The Heat, Panthers and Dan Marino Foundation all declined to comment Tuesday. But don't be surprised if RRA's logo is no longer included as part of the Panthers' game presentation.

The Florida Marlins are the only one of the four major pro sports team in South Florida that doesn’t have any sort of partnership with RRA or Rothstein-connected company.

In January, attendees at a VIP party before the BCS National Championship Game received a football-shaped luggage tag featuring the BCS and RRA logos.

On Monday, Miami Dolphins running back Ronnie Brown broadcast his weekly radio show, “The Ronnie Brown Show,’” on WQAM-560 AM from Bova Prime in Fort Lauderdale, just as he's done all season.

Last month, Rothstein announced the formation of RRA Sports & Entertainment, a division to handle marketing and endorsement deals for athletes. Its first clients are Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder and junior tennis player Sachia Vickery.

Rothstein is also a member of the corporate marketing committee of the South Florida Super Bowl Host Committee, but so far has been missing in action, host committee chairman Rodney Barreto said Tuesday.

“I did have lunch with him to discuss the Super Bowl and if he wanted to get involved with us. He’s involved with a lot of great charities. He agreed,” said Barreto, who met with Rothstein a few months ago.

“He’s attended no meetings, participated with no referrals or anything to date. As far as I’m concerned, he hasn’t done anything with our committee yet. I wish he would have,” Barreto said adding he thought someone of Rothstein’s stature and connections could help the host committee.

“He was a force, don’t kid yourself,” Barreto said. “It was brought to my attention, why don’t we consider having him help open doors for us, to help find potential sponsors. It didn’t work out.”

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Norman Braman may have lost his long-running battle targeting the financing for the Florida Marlins’ ballpark and other Miami projects, but he has several supporters.

Nearly 100 politicians, lawyers, activists and other Miami-Dade County residents took out a full page ad in Monday’s Miami Herald to thank the luxury auto dealer for acting on the public’s behalf. According to the Herald, it’s 97 people who paid $5,000 for the ad that reads:

“The Greater Miami Community Thanks Norman Braman.

You fought the good fight and we appreciate all you have done. On behalf the hundreds of thousands of Greater Miami residents we want to you to know that we stand with you knowing that you have stood for what is right and just for all of us and future generations.”

The list of supporters included Miami Beach Mayor Matti Herrera Bower, former Miami Beach Mayor David Dermer, art collector and businessman Marty Margulies, auto and real estate magnate Alan Potamkin, Perry Ellis CEO George Feldenkreis, Ivax founder Phillip Frost and lots of others.

Braman was seeking, among other things, a public vote on the use of public tax dollars for the venue for a private baseball team.

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Sun Sentinel columnist Dave Hyde interviewed Miami Dolphins owner Steve Ross in his 19th floor office at Time Warner Center in Manhattan on Friday. Time Warner Center is the mixed use residential and retail complex Ross’ Related Companies built that has transformed Columbus Circle. The piece ran today before the Dolphins defeated the New York Jets 30-25 at the Meadowlands – and completed a season sweep of their rivals. Read Hyde’s piece here.

Just a quick thought on today’s game: is there another team in the NFL that has worked so hard to be 3-4? Just asking.

And speaking of being 3-4, the Dolphins hope you’ll want to watch the rest of the team’s home games this season live. They’ve introduced a new four-game pack that features lower bowl tickets to each of the team’s final four home games of 2009 for $348. That’s to see the Dolphins play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New England Patriots, Houston Texans and Pittsburgh Steelers. It offers a savings off the individual ticket price and gives you priority for playoff seats. Check it out here.

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You may disagree with the amount of public funding that’s been committed to it or its location at the former site of the Orange Bowl, but the Florida Marlins’ ballpark is actually being built. Construction is thoroughly underway.

So much so that the team was happy to show off the ongoing construction during a hardhat media tour this morning. Check out a photo gallery here. Sid Perkins, the project’s construction manager who works for the Hunt/Moss joint venture that his building the venue, was our tour guide. He wore a black Marlins polo shirt, a cowboy-shaped hardhat with a Smith & Wesson logo, and carried a cigar.

We had to wear hardhats, too, (although not cowboy-shaped), some of which had been used by Miami-Dade County Commissioners during the ceremonial ground-breaking on July 18. I got Bruno Barriero’s; Miami Herald Marlins beat writer Clark Spencer’s was Sally Heyman's…(insert joke here…)

Continue reading "Marlins Stadium Update No. 900,000 square feet" »

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Anyone else wonder what the “DOUBTERS” billboard on I-95 southbound just north of Miami was all about?

Clearly the idea was to catch your attention. A black billboard with just the word "DOUBTERS" in white and some birds perched atop it doing their business directly on the board. No word of whom or what had placed the ad.

As days went by successively more birds appeared atop the board and with them, more droppings. So that by this week, the droppings were covering the board, close to obliterating the "Doubters." And then a few days ago, the Miami Heat tag advertising 2009-10 tickets for sale appeared below the billboard.

Last season’s Heat ad campaign took aim at the doubters, too. Guard Dwyane Wade opened one of the team’s Something2prove ticket campaign ads by saying: “To the doubters…”

Soon the billboard message should change to this year’s tagline:

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