A SPONSORSHIP deal worth just under six figures has given the Cheshire Jets a huge boost as the table-topping BBL Championship side prepare to return to our TV screens.
The Jets have signed a two-year deal with IT and communications giants the AVC Group, who have premises in Saltney.
The agreement will allow the Jets’ community programme to grow and help put them in a better position for their proposed move to a new arena.
AVC, an international company with operations in the US and Australia, are perhaps best known for exclusively providing installation services nationwide for Sky TV and have an annual turnover of £61m.
They recently took over Saltney company Firstline Digital and the move allowed Firstline’s managing director Mike Davies to turn his dream of supporting the Jets into reality.
Mr Davies said: “We’d had involvement with the club for some time. It had always been my wish to sponsor them but there was always a financial balance to be struck.
“When we became part of AVC, we were able to make it happen due to the company’s desire to be involved with the community side of the club.”
Previous sponsors Carlyle Finance and BiG Storage remain supporters of the club, but the team took delivery of their new kit on Friday and sported it for the first time on Sunday as they defeated Newcastle Eagles 76-75 at the Northgate Arena.
Jets director Pete Hawkins said the deal would allow the Jets to take their community programme, Hoops4Health, to the next level.
“We already work with more than 4,000 children across the region but we want to expand. We want to grow and this deal, over two years, will enable us to do that,” he said.
It is also a timely deal as Sky Sports have announced that they have completed an agreement with the BBL to show games this season.
Jets will make their TV bow next month. Their match at Sheffield Sharks on Friday, November 19 will be recorded and shown ‘as live’ on Sky Sports 4 on Tuesday, November 23 at 5.30pm. The BBL Cup final will be screened live.
The last time the Jets received major TV exposure was on the now-defunct ITV Digital channel after the BBL switched from original broadcaster Sky.
BBL chairman Paul Blake said: “We are delighted to be back on Sky and look forward to a long term partnership. The BBL has a very exciting product, and we can guarantee the very best of British basketball action.”
