New Jersey Sky Blue FC Announce Two Major Partnership Deals

The New Jersey Sky Blue FC announced two major partnership deals, one with SoccerGrlProbs and the second with FC Copa Academy.

The deal with the Long Island founded SoccerGrlProbs, will enable the Sky Blue FC to promote their brand through online marketing,video production and other promotional activities. “What these young entrepreneurs have accomplished through social media and viral video campaigns is nothing short of incredible,” said Tony Novo, Sky Blue FC President & General Manager. “They have built a large following both online and beyond, and we feel that SoccerGrlProbs is an ideal partner for us as we continue to broaden our online marketing strategy. We look forward to a strong partnership with SoccerGrlProbs, and we are excited to get the ball rolling with them.”

Founded in 2011 by Long Island natives Alanna Locast, Shannon Fay and Carly Beyar, who were all teammates on the Fairfield University Women’s soccer team, the concept of SoccerGrlProbs came during a preseason three-a-day when they were joking about the struggles of being a female soccer player. They then started a Twitter handle to express those struggles in a comedic tone, and it was an instant hit. Today, they have nearly 200K followers on Twitter, along with 67K Instagram followers, 56K YouTube subscribers (over 8 million total video views) and 8,000 likes on Facebook.

“We are ecstatic to be working with Sky Blue FC this upcoming 2015 season,” Faye stated. “This will be SoccerGrlProbs’ first appearance at Yurcak Field, so we can’t wait to meet all of our New Jersey fans as well as getting the fans pumped for the NWSL season! Who’s ready to have fun?”

SoccerGrlProbs will make their initial appearance at the April 18th game between the Sky Blue FC and the Houston Dash at Yurack field.

For both the Sky Blue FC and the NWSL, this is a huge partnership which will hopefully draw in thousands, if not eventually millions of fans to women’s professional soccer. It is hoped that such online exposure will help fans become more knowledgeable about the league and some of its lesser known stars, which will be vital since most of the league’s top players will be absent for part of the season to take part in the World Cup. Great move by the Sky Blue FC and for the NWSL as a whole.

The second partnership deal the Sky Blue have reached is with FC Copa Academy, a prominent soccer development academy that is based in New Jersey. As part of the affiliation, FC Copa will manage the official Sky Blue FC Reserve Team in a co-branded agreement, which will play a season concurrently with the full professional side.

Regarding this affiliation, GM Tony Novo says, “Partnering with FC Copa makes perfect sense for our organization from both a soccer and a business perspective, when we created our club partnership program, this is exactly the kind of affiliation that we were looking to develop as we strengthen our relationships with soccer clubs throughout New Jersey and the entire Tri-State area.”

Founded in 2005, FC Copa has become one of the top academies for development, producing many high level college and professional soccer players.With the partnership, members of the Sky Blue FC Reserve, U23 and U20 teams will have a direct lineage from the NWSL side, and its players will receive monitoring from the Sky Blue FC coaching staff. Additionally, select players will have an opportunity to periodically train with the professional club.

This deal will allow players a more direct path to the professional team through the reserve team and the U23 and U20 teams will have even greater opportunities for development and promotion.

Each deal ensures the continued growth of both the Sky Blue and the NWSL as a whole as it will bring more marketing opportunities as well as more growth opportunities for young players and reserve squads.

quotes courtesy of the NJ Sky Blue

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