ATLANTA, May 21, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Confederation of
North, Central America and
Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) and its commercial
partnership agency, Traffic Sports, announced today that Delta Air
Lines (NYSE: DAL) will sponsor this year's edition of the CONCACAF
Gold Cup.
The agreement designates Delta as the Official Airline of the
2015 Gold Cup, throughout CONCACAF territory including the United States and Canada, as well as Mexico, Central
America and the rest of Latin
America.
"We are pleased to welcome Delta as the official airline partner
of this year's Gold Cup," said CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb. "Delta's vast presence throughout
the CONCACAF region makes this a natural alliance between both
institutions. At CONCACAF, we look forward to ensuring a long-term
partnership of collaboration."
Delta joins CONCACAF as first-time sponsor of the Gold Cup – the
preeminent national team tournament of the North, Central America and Caribbean region.
"We're delighted to sponsor the CONCACAF Gold Cup because it
reaches an audience of millions throughout Delta's network in
Latin America and the Caribbean," said Nicolas Ferri, Delta's Vice President –
Latin America and the Caribbean. "Delta wants to be the best U.S.
airline in the region, and partnering with CONCACAF allows us to
play an even bigger part in the countries we serve by supporting
one of their citizens' greatest passions."
Delta has a well-established history of supporting soccer events
in North America, including
current backing for Major League Soccer side Seattle Sounders, as
well as support for England
Premier League club Chelsea. The sponsorship of this year's Gold
Cup was negotiated by CONCACAF commercial partnership agency
Traffic Sports.
"Delta's tagline, 'Keep Climbing' is truly representative of
where Delta and CONCACAF are headed," said Aaron Davidson, President of Traffic
Sports. "And together we will climb faster than ever
before."
The 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup will be played from July 7-26, involving 12 teams from the region.
The 12 national teams that have qualified for this year's
tournament are -- in alphabetical order: Canada, Costa
Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Trinidad
& Tobago and the United
States.
The Gold Cup will take place in 13 cities across the United States and Canada. Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Kansas
City, Los Angeles,
Phoenix and Toronto will all host group stage
double-headers. Baltimore and
New York/New Jersey will host the quarterfinals, while
Atlanta will play host to the
semifinals on July 22. Philadelphia will be the site of the
third-place match on July 25, as well
as the Final on Sunday, July 26.
Taking place every two years, the Gold Cup has established
itself as the region's most popular national team tournament,
routinely drawing capacity crowds and millions of viewers across
the region. The Gold Cup has been played 12 times since the
inaugural edition in 1991.
About CONCACAF
CONCACAF -- the Confederation of North,
Central American and Caribbean Association Football -- is one of
six continental confederations of FIFA (Federation Internationale
de Football Association) and serves as the governing body of
football in this part of the world. It is comprised of 41 national
associations, from Canada in the
north to Guyana, Surinam and French Guyana in the south. Please
visit www.concacaf.com for more information.
About Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines is working to be
the best U.S. airline in Latin
America and the Caribbean.
Its achievements have been recognized with two top distinctions by
Latin Trade's Best of Travel Annual Awards 2014, leading the
categories of "Most Improvement Overall" and "Best Partnerships and
Alliances," and being the only U.S. airline in this year's
rankings. Delta continues to grow in Latin America through its long-term exclusive
alliances with GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes, Aeromexico and
Aerolineas Argentinas, and is committed to building a solid
regional footprint thus enhancing its global network and offering a
better overall experience for its customers. Delta provides service
to 30 countries and 51 destinations in the region offering over
1,400 weekly flights between Latin
America/Caribbean and the
U.S. Delta customers can receive real-time, on-the-go travel
assistance in Spanish and Portuguese through Twitter channels
@DeltaAssist_ES and @DeltaAjuda from 9 a.m.
to 7 p.m. EST. Brazilian customers can also access Delta´s
dedicated Brazil Facebook page, visiting
http://www.facebook.com/DeltaAirLinesBrasil.
Delta Air Lines serves more than 170 million customers each
year. Delta was named to FORTUNE magazine's top 50 World's Most
Admired Companies in addition to being named the most admired
airline for the fourth time in five years. Additionally, Delta has
ranked No.1 in the Business Travel News Annual Airline survey for
four consecutive years, a first for any airline. With an
industry-leading global network, Delta and the Delta Connection
carriers offer service to 327 destinations in 60 countries on six
continents. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta employs nearly 80,000 employees
worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 700 aircraft.
The airline is a founding member of the SkyTeam global alliance and
participates in the industry's leading trans-Atlantic joint venture
with Air France-KLM and Alitalia as well as a newly formed joint
venture with Virgin Atlantic. Including its worldwide alliance
partners, Delta offers customers more than 15,000 daily flights,
with key hubs and markets including Amsterdam, Atlanta, Boston,
Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York-JFK, New
York-LaGuardia, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City, Seattle
and Tokyo-Narita. Delta has invested billions of dollars in airport
facilities, global products, services and technology to enhance the
customer experience in the air and on the ground. Additional
information is available on delta.com, Twitter @Delta,
Google.com/+Delta, Facebook.com/delta and Delta's blog
takingoff.delta.com.
About Traffic Sports
Traffic Sports, founded in
Sao, Paulo, Brazil in 1980, is one
of the leading sports groups in the world. Traffic's global
headquarters continue to be in Sao
Paulo with regional offices in Miami (USA),
Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and Lisbon (Portugal). Over the past three decades,
Traffic has organized and/or commercialized most of the official
international soccer events in the Americas and today holds select
exclusive commercial rights to the following premier properties in
the region: Copa America, CONCACAF
Gold Cup, Copa Libertadores, CONCACAF Champions League, CONCACAF
World Cup Qualifiers, Copa do Brasil and the North American Soccer League
(NASL). Traffic is also the exclusive FIFA Match Hospitality
agency for the Brazil territory
and owns the following soccer clubs: Estoril Praia
(Portugal), the Carolina RailHawks
(NASL), the Fort Lauderdale Strikers (NASL) and Desportivo
Brasil. For more information, visit trafficsports.com.
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SOURCE Delta Air Lines