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