Who is Honey, the LA Galaxy's New Sponsor?
Breanna de Vera is dot.LA's editorial intern. She is currently a senior at the University of Southern California, studying journalism and English literature. She previously reported for the campus publications The Daily Trojan and Annenberg Media.
Honey has inked a deal with the L.A. Galaxy to be stitched on their right sleeve. The online shopping and discount platform will also be an online deals partner, offering discounts for L.A. Galaxy fan merchandise, and it will be featured in the Galaxy's online marketing content.
The L.A. Galaxy will launch its secondary jersey on Wednesday with the Honey logo. Herbalife Nutrition will continue to be featured on the jersey front, as it has been for the past few years.
It's the first time the team has partnered with Honey.
"We are always looking for brands that are headquartered in Southern California to align ourselves with to help communicate a message of community and SoCal atmosphere to our fans," said Robert Vartan, vice president of AEG Global Partnerships, which owns the L.A. Galaxy. "Honey was [a partner] that we felt was the right time, the right place."
Honey is a free online platform that notifies users about price drops and discounts on ecommerce sites. The Los Angeles-based startup was acquired by PayPal in 2019 for $4 billion. The Galaxy is not its first sports team partner — last year it expanded a partnership with the L.A. Clippers, and the Honey logo was also stitched onto their jersey.
The NBA was the first major U.S. sports company to let teams display partners on player jerseys, and prior to being on the Clippers' sleeve, Honey had its logo on practice jerseys and the Clippers' training center. Last season was the first time the MLS allowed sponsored sleeve patches. Vartan said that the featured jersey icon is one of the most impactful ways for sponsors to advertise their brand.
"I think the idea is to always start somewhere," he said. "But to start somewhere impactful, and we felt like in our sports kit, being on our jersey, on the sleeve is a great way to launch in a really impactful way for them."
The Major League Soccer season begins on April 17, and will have a regular 2021 season, but without fans in the stands.
"Just like every sports team, we are following all the rules and regulations and guidelines set by the public health department locally and with the state," said Vartan. "Our goal is just optimistically to be there when we do get the approval to [have fans back]."
Breanna de Vera is dot.LA's editorial intern. She is currently a senior at the University of Southern California, studying journalism and English literature. She previously reported for the campus publications The Daily Trojan and Annenberg Media.
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