Inter Miami, Florida Blue sign partnership, including naming rights for training center
Inter Miami on Monday announced a multi-year partnership with Florida Blue, the state’s Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance plan. As part of the deal, which goes through 2027, Florida Blue will get naming rights for the team’s $60 million Fort Lauderdale training facility and become the club’s Official Community Partner.
Among the initiatives, Florida Blue will be the presenting partner of Inter Miami’s Special Olympics Unified Team, a team of special needs youth that travels to play other MLS-sponsored special needs teams.
Inter Miami and Florida Blue executives say the partnership will make the training facility more accessible to underserved South Florida communities with the addition of soccer clinics and other events.
“The partnership with Inter Miami offers us another way to connect to the Hispanic and very rich culture we have in South Florida, including people from the Caribbean islands such as Jamaica and Haiti,” said Florida Blue market president David Wagner. “Soccer is the most popular sport in the world, and this is a way for us to serve the children, soccer leagues and families that are migrating over from Central and South America and the Caribbean and all over the world.”
Nico Zini, Inter Miami’s senior director of partnerships and broadcast, added: “Florida Blue has been a great partner with the Miami Heat for a long time, and this is a massive deal for us that will offer tailor-made programming targeted to our Hispanic community. They will help us leverage our training facility to promote health, soccer and nutrition to people who normally would not have access to those kinds of programs.”
During each year of the partnership, Florida Blue and Inter Miami CF Foundation will collaborate on community efforts that will focus on improving the well-being of Hispanic neighborhoods in South Florida through education, health and soccer.
“Soccer is a game that can inspire kids and bring families and communities together – especially in our Latin American communities where it has been a mainstay for generations,” said Florida Blue President & CEO Pat Geraghty. “By partnering with Inter Miami, we hope to leverage the passion and camaraderie around fútbol in ways that can provide new opportunities to communities and elevate their health and well-being.”
Beginning in 2023, Florida Blue also will have apparel rights on the upper back of the Inter Miami first team training shirts.
This story was originally published September 12, 2022 at 7:55 AM.