The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community has announced that its Casino Arizona property has signed a sponsorship agreement with the Arizona Hotshots franchise of the recently-established Alliance of American Football (AAF).

Sun Devil Stadium presence:

The federally-recognized tribe used an official Friday press release to detail that the Arizona Hotshots is one of eight teams competing in the AAF’s inaugural season with all of the side’s home games being staged inside the 57,000-seat Sun Devil Stadium. As part of the sponsorship deal, the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community stated that the logo for its Casino Arizona venue will now to be ‘prominently displayed’ on advertising boards spread around the interior of this giant Arizona facility.

NFL rival:

Established by the former General Manager for the Indianapolis Colts franchise of the National Football League (NFL), Bill Polian, in partnership with television producer, Charlie Ebersol, the first season of the AAF is featuring eight American football teams battling it out over a twelve-match regular season before an eventual title winner is decided via an April 27 championship game. The Arizona Hotshots won their first pair of home contests against rival, Salt Lake Stallions, and the Memphis Express franchises but subsequently went on to lose a trio of road games and currently sits third in the association’s four-team Western Conference.

Operator optimism:

Despite the Tempe-based side’s recent run of disappointing results, Ramon Martinez, Public Relations Director for Casino Arizona, declared that he believes the squad ‘is an exciting team with great potential to win’ and that he remains confident that ‘fans will flock to the games’.

Martinez’ statement read…

“Casino Arizona has long been a supporter of sports in the state and we are thrilled to be a part of this new iteration of football.”

Fan inclusion:

The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, which is also responsible for Maricopa County’s Talking Stick Resort, explained that the new sponsorship deal is to moreover see Casino Arizona’s CAZ Sports Bar play host to multiple player meet-and-greets and game viewing parties alongside serving as the venue for the Arizona Hotshots Coach’s Show.

Local sports support:

For its part, the Hotshots described the deal with Casino Arizona as ‘truly unbelievable’ before going on to proclaim that it is ‘privileged’ to have partnered with Casino Arizona as the venue’s ‘commitment to Arizona sports is unmatched.’

Read a statement from the Arizona Hotshots…

“We will continue to give fans the best possible experience at Sun Devil Stadium and look forward to making the viewing parties at CAZ Sports Bar the place to be when the team is on the road.”