According to a tweet without a link and from Daniel Kaplan of the Sports Business Journal (@dkaplanSBJ) and confirmed by National Football League (NFL) Spokesperson Brian McCarthy, Bank of America is no longer an NFL Sponsor.
The NFL sponsorship ended March 31st after talks between the NFL and Bank of America failed to yield a deal either side was happy.
Asked if the NFL planned to seek a new bank sponsor, Brian McCarthy said the NFL is "exploring what's out there," and suggested a call to Bank of America was best to get their point of view.
Jon Schwartz of Bank of America Global Media Relations explained that "After many months of negotiations, Bank of America and the NFL could not arrive at a mutually beneficial set of terms for the sponsorship."
But a parting of the ways with the NFL does not mean Bank of America will seek to terminate its NFL team sponsor relationships. "While we couldn’t reach an agreement with the League,"Schwartz said via email. "It is our intent to continue to reach their large and highly-engaged fan base through our existing NFL team sponsorships, which we’re excited about.
While it's not crystal clear that the economy is hampering sports sponsorship across the board, the hypothesis here is that corporate sponsors want to know they're getting a better bang for their sponsor buck.
Stay tuned.