Soccer

New York’s new MLS team signs key commercial partnership

The Big Apple’s professional soccer team, New York City FC, signed a three-year partnership with Hays Plc, Britain’s leading executive recruiting firm.

The team, which will begin play in Major League Soccer next season, said Hays will become its official recruitment partner.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Hays said it plans to help NYCFC, which is owned by the New York Yankees and Manchester City of the UK’s Premier League, recruit off-field talent.

“Sponsorship is changing,” Hays Chief Marketing Officer Sholto Douglas-Home said. “Partnering with NYCFC allows us to bring their club’s experience to a wider audience rather than the other way around only.”

“The association is a no-brainer,” NYCFC Chief Business Officer Tim Pernetti said. “We have access to [soccer] and business expertise through our global links.

“As a component of a group, NYCFC is selling a global proposition and have the foresight to sell fans on its assets all across the globe.”

NYCFC’s deal with Hays comes after the club made headlines in recent weeks following the signing of two high-profile World Cup superstars, David Villa and Frank Lampard, for its inaugural season next year.

“On the heels of all of that, NYCFC is in a position to succeed straight away on and off the field,” Pernetti added.

Without even ever having kicked a ball, NYCFC has more Twitter followers (112,000) than all but two of the current MLS franchises.