As the app continues to expand its sports coverage, TikTok is set to become an official sponsor of Washington D.C.’s professional sports teams across several leagues, with the social media platform to be the first to have its logo featured on the Capitals’ road jerseys beginning in the 2024-25 National Hockey League season.
Despite TikTok’s ongoing battle with the U.S. federal government, the ByteDance-owned company is rooting itself in the country’s capital via a multiyear deal with Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), which includes partnerships with the Capitals, the NBA’s Washington Wizards, the WNBA’s Washington Mystics, the NBA G-League’s Capital City Go-Go and NBA2K’s Wizard District Gaming.
In addition, TikTok will become the title sponsor of the Capitals 50th Anniversary Celebration, which it says will feature tentpole events and initiatives celebrating 50 years of Capital hockey.
According to Jim Van Stone, president of business operations and CCO at MSE, the multiyear partnership with TikTok aims to “grow the game, showcase our players’ personalities” and “engage with the TikTok community through content creation.”
A potential nationwide ban has not stopped TikTok from signing new deals with major sports organizations.
Last week, the platform announced an extension of its ongoing partnership with the National Football League to continue hosting exclusive content on the app.
And earlier this summer, TikTok captured the attention of golf fans this summer by hosting the Creator Classic, a nine-hole competition among the platform’s biggest golf content creators in partnership with PGA Tour.
In addition,TikTok built off its partnership with Britain’s Olympics and Paralympics teams to launch a new marketing campaign featuring standout UK athletes while highlighting the app’s behind-the-scenes connection to the global sporting event.
In general, TikTok has made a bigger push toward facilitating sports content on the app since releasing a report in 2023 that showed video views for #hockey, #basketball, #rugby, #volleyball, #football, #cricket, and #baseball up year-over-year, many up over 100%.
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