Other website sections

»Jobs in sport

»Tenders

»Directory

»Conferences

Major League Baseball will hold talks with DHL about the future of its sponsorship agreements after the Deutsche Post AG unit withdrew from the U.S. express- delivery market.

``As we do with all of our partners, we stay abreast of their business situations and how it relates to our partnerships,'' league spokesman Matt Bourne said. ``We're discussing DHL's situation with them.''

DHL said it will continue its MLB partnerships even after it fired 14,900 workers and closed three-quarters of its outlets because it failed to compete with United Parcel Service Inc. and FedEx Corp. in the U.S. It will only focus on international deliveries in the U.S.

``We have made no changes with regard to our baseball sponsorships,'' company spokesman Jonathan Baker said in an e- mail yesterday. ``Given the change in strategic direction to focus on our international services in the U.S. market, we will be examining these in conversations with our partners.''

DHL in 2005 signed a three-year agreement with Major League Baseball to sponsor the league's monthly and annual ``DHL Delivery Man'' awards for relief pitchers. The company extended its partnership in March 2007 through the 2010 season and also sponsors at least five clubs.

DHL promoted its ties to baseball with commercials starring Johnny Damon, then with the Boston Red Sox, and Kenny Lofton, who's played for nine clubs since 2002 and uses DHL every time he gets traded. Trucks making deliveries carried the MLB logo.

The Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants have agreements with DHL for the next two seasons and the Cleveland Indians' deal with the company covers 2009.

Team Talks

DHL will be visiting the Reds this week to discuss the partnership, Bill Reinberger, Cincinnati's vice president of corporate sales, said in an interview.

The Giants are ``trying to figure out what's going to happen,'' with their DHL sponsorship, team spokeswoman Staci Slaughter said. The Boston Red Sox's agreement with DHL is ``to be determined,'' said the club's Chief Operating Officer Mike Dee.

The New York Mets and Atlanta Braves also had partnerships with DHL. It's not known if the deals extend beyond this year.

``We are in regular contact with our partners, but have made no decisions to change our current sponsorship arrangements,'' said DHL's Baker.

It makes sense for DHL and baseball to recast the partnership to make it work, said David Carter, executive director of the Sports Business Institute at the University of Southern California.

``They both really have an incentive to play nice right now,'' Carter said in an interview. ``The last thing either one wants is to have a high-profile problem in the marketplace.''

DHL is ceasing domestic truck operations and will hand over U.S. air shipments to UPS. The remaining 103 outlets will focus on international deliveries.

UPS is the leading U.S. express-delivery service with 51 percent of the market, followed by FedEx at 31 percent and the United States Postal Service with 13 percent, according to SJ Consulting Group. DHL ranked fourth with 5 percent.

(Source: Bloomberg)