The New York Red Bulls have a new corporate partner, and it’s one of the biggest global life sciences companies that call New Jersey home.The Harrison-based Major League Soccer club has inked a marketing partnership with Bayer, whose Bayer HealthCare unit has its North American headquarters in Hanover. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it marks the second-largest partnership ever in the franchise’s 20-year history.



For the Red Bulls and the German life sciences giant, the agreement is tied largely to community involvement and service initiatives around the region. For instance, Bayer will serve as a presenting partner Sept. 11, when the club hosts the Chicago Fire at Red Bull Arena, while helping showcase first responders and military veterans during the match.



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The partnership also will be woven into the Red Bulls’ vast youth development program, which reaches about 40,000 kids annually in some 130 ZIP codes around the New York and New Jersey metropolitan area. Marc de Grandpre, the Red Bulls’ general manager, called it an example of “pure grassroots activation” for Bayer, whose headquarters is only about two miles from the club’s training facility and academy in Hanover’s Whippany section.



“At the end of the day, when you look at it, if you can pinpoint one thing that made this happen, it’s our focus on the community and their focus on the local community,” de Grandpre said. “It just made sense for both partners.”



The announcement comes just four months after the Red Bulls unveiled the largest marketing partnership in its history, which dates back to its days as the New York MetroStars. The landmark deal with Yanmar, a Japanese heavy equipment maker, led to the first-ever branding on the Red Bulls’ training jerseys that wasn’t related to the club’s energy drink parent company, among other aspects.



The deal came as part of an aggressive effort by the Red Bulls to boost corporate partnerships and raise their profile in New Jersey’s business community.



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The Bayer agreement calls for the company to have designation rights in areas such as pharmaceuticals, pain relief, crop protection and seeds. De Grandpre noted that the Red Bulls already use many products developed by Bayer’s Crop Science unit at the club’s training center and practice facility, “so for us, it gives us access to the latest in technology and progress that they make when it comes to seeds, maintaining our pitches.”



“We’ve been using their products, but now obviously we have firsthand access to the best products they develop and come up with,” he said. “So, for us, there is a functional benefit for the soccer side of the business, and then just having them activate in the region is going to be great for us.”



Meantime, the deal makes Bayer the official life sciences partner of the club.



“At Bayer, we are dedicated to the communities where our employees live and work,” Raymond F. Kerins Jr., a senior vice president with Bayer, said in a prepared statement. “The opportunity to partner with a major sports franchise like the New York Red Bulls, that shares this dedication, is a perfect match. This partnership is about working together to improve the lives of individuals across New York and New Jersey. Bayer is proud to be the life science partner of New York Red Bulls Soccer.”



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It’s Bayer’s first partnership with a Major League Soccer Club, according to the Red Bulls. But the company is no stranger to the game — its parent company is owner of the Bayer 04 Leverkusen professional soccer team in Germany.



De Grandpre said the international connection to soccer was just another reason that the two organizations could be a match.



“They’re obviously predisposed to the game,” he said. “They love the growth of the game in (the New York metro area) and in the U.S., and it made sense for them to be partners with a group like us, which is also an international brand, at the end of the day.



“So it was very important for them to be with a club that is fully entrenched within the community, but also understands the global reach that Bayer has.”



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