KANSAS CITY, MO--(Marketwired - January 20, 2015) - H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) today announced a new promotional partnership with the National Basketball Association (NBA). The multiyear agreement marks the company's first-ever partnership with a North American sports league.
As Tax Services Partner of the NBA, H&R Block will make stops at several upcoming league events along the company's 2015 national consumer activation tour. The first of these events is at the Cleveland Cavaliers home game on Jan. 28, followed by activities during NBA All-Star 2015 in New York, where H&R Block will showcase their expertise during one the league's biggest events of the year.
H&R Block will leverage its relationship with the NBA in upcoming advertising, and will work with the league to develop custom content on NBA.com.
"We are very pleased to begin a relationship with the NBA, a great brand that fits well with our brand," said Kathy Collins, H&R Block's chief marketing officer. "The NBA season aligns closely with the US tax season, so it's a natural fit."
"We look forward to bringing our nearly 60 years of tax knowledge and expertise to millions of NBA fans," Collins said. "We had been considering partnering with a major sports league for some time, so this opportunity with the NBA just felt right."
NBA fans can visit H&R Block's interactive, digital kiosk at the game to learn about the brand's "Get Your Billions Back America" campaign and celebrate Refund Season with chances to win prizes, including $2,800 (the approximate average tax refund according to the IRS).
This is the second year of H&R Block's national consumer activation tour, which made stops in six cities and distributed nearly $15,000 to consumers during the 2014 tax season.
H&R Block will continue its activation tour through April, including stops next month at the Sprint NBA All-Star Celebrity Game and NBA All-Star Practice presented by Sean John at Macy's, at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
About H&R Block
H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE: HRB) is the world's largest consumer tax services provider. More than 650 million tax returns have been prepared worldwide by and through H&R Block since 1955. In fiscal 2014, H&R Block had annual revenues over $3.0 billion with 24.2 million tax returns prepared worldwide. Tax return preparation services are provided in approximately 12,000 company-owned and franchise retail tax offices worldwide by professional tax preparers, and through H&R Block Tax Software products. H&R Block Bank provides affordable financial services products. For more information, visit the H&R Block Newsroom at http://newsroom.hrblock.com/.
About the NBA
The NBA is a global sports and media business built around three professional sports leagues: the National Basketball Association, the Women's National Basketball Association, and the NBA Development League. The league has established a major international presence with offices in 13 markets worldwide, games and programming in 215 countries and territories in 47 languages, and NBA merchandise for sale in more than 125,000 stores in 100 countries on 6 continents. NBA rosters at the start of the 2014-15 season featured a record 101 international players from 37 countries and territories. NBA Digital's assets include NBA TV, which is available in 60 million U.S. homes, and NBA.com, which recorded 26.9 billion page views during the 2013-14 season, with more than half of all visitors originating from outside of North America. The NBA is the No. 1 professional sports league on social media, with more than 750 million likes and followers globally across all league, team, and player platforms. Through NBA Cares, the league and its teams and players have donated more than $242 million to charity, completed more than 3 million hours of hands-on community service, and created more than 915 places where kids and families can live, learn, or play.