Experience Kissimmee has signed a three-year partnership with England’s West Ham United Football Club, a Premier League team with a long and storied history in England. The agreement between the team and Kissimmee includes high-profile marketing placement at the team’s new stadium—Olympic Stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, East London—which is one of the most high-visibility sports venues in the world. Experience Kissimmee, which promotes Osceola County, Fla. and is adjacent to Orlando/Orange County, is now West Ham’s official destination partner.
DT Minich, Experience Kissimmee’s president and CEO, said that the timing of the agreement “couldn’t be better,” citing the team’s move to Olympic Stadium at the beginning of the current 2016-17 season.
The partnership, the first of its kind between a U.S. destination and a Premier League team, he explained, will give Kissimmee a large global audience because of the international draw of the team and its players.
In the U.S., Experience Kissimmee is already the official tourism partner for the Orlando City Soccer Club, which competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS).
“This agreement will put the Experience Kissimmee brand in front of sold-out crowds in the heart of one of our most important travel markets,” said Minich, who pointed out that the Experience Kissimmee logo will be on buses used by visiting teams and will be displayed on large LED screens outside the stadium.
“Following this summer’s successful U.S. tour, we are delighted to have forged another significant relationship in the States,” said Karren Brady, West Ham United’s vice chairman. “Particularly one that will benefit our supporters.”
Kissimmee’s plans include also call for bringing West Ham players and their families over to Kissimmee to have their holiday experience featured in popular U.K.-based publications.
