July 25, 2013, 23:09 / Business

Aeroflot will again sponsor Mikhail Prokhorov's basketball club

The company will place its logos at the arena in Brooklyn during Nets matches, the contract will cost it $500,000 Alexey Rozhkov Ekaterina Sobol

S. Nikolaev / Vedomosti

airline Aeroflot will extend its sponsorship contract with the NBA Brooklyn Nets club, which belongs to Russian businessman and politician Mikhail Prokhorov, for the 2013/2014 season. This decision was made by the board of directors of Aeroflot. According to a source at the airline, the contract will cost it $500,000. In particular, the company will place its logos at the arena in Brooklyn during Nets games.

The Board believes that cooperation with one of the most famous American sports clubs will strengthen the image of the airline, and will also help its penetration into the US market, increase loyalty to the Aeroflot brand and increase the number of potential customers among numerous basketball fans, the company said in a statement .

These are not just words, notes a source at Aeroflot: passenger traffic on American airlines is growing significantly, and this success is also due to the contract with Aeroflot.

In Brooklyn, where the club's stadium is located, potential clients of the airline live - a large Russian-speaking diaspora, says the newspaper's interlocutor. According to him, Aeroflot's position in the American market can be improved by the Nets' successful performance in the playoffs. One of the best players in Russia of the last 15 years, Andrei Kirilenko, will play for Prokhorov’s club.

This is not Aeroflot’s only partnership in big-time sports - and abroad in particular. Recently, the Russian company became the official carrier of one of the most popular football clubs in the world - the English Manchester United, and in Russia Aeroflot was the title sponsor of the CSKA football team for several years.