NYC Marathon Lands $30 Million and First Title Sponsor

For the first time in its 34-year history, the New York City Marathon has signed a title sponsor for the Nov. 2 event.

Financial services company ING has inked the deal and the race will be titled the ING New York City Marathon. A number of other sponsors also participate on a number of levels—principal, signature and supporting—in sponsorship deals totaling $25 million to $30 million.

In addition to its title sponsorship, ING has created a program called ING Run for Something Better where four of the top female athletes running the marathon will compete in a separate event to raise money for New York City parks as well as parks in their respective hometowns. Based on their performance, ING will donate funds earmarked for track and field programming at the parks.

The timing was right to bring in a title sponsor, said Ann Crandall Hinegardner, the chief marketing officer for the New York Road Runners, New York City.

"ING had the right dedication to the sport of running and doing something for the community," she said. "They also planned to activate the sponsorship and commit funds to help us develop the sport of running in any way they could. It made perfect sense for us."

A number of other brands are also new to sponsoring the 26.2-mile race. Avis is the official rental car and is the presenting sponsor of the wheelchair race. Smart, a division of DaimlerChrysler, is the official vehicle, and will give the first-place male and female runners a Smart car. Clear Channel Radio is the presenting sponsor of the Health & Fitness Expo, held at the Jacob K. Javits Center the four days prior to the event.

Poland Spring, which has been a long-time official water sponsor, is broadening its relationship by kicking off marathon week this Sunday sponsoring a 5-mile race that starts and finishes at the marathon finish line in Central Park. Tylenol, a sponsor last year, has upgraded its sponsorship level and its brand Tylenol 8 Hour is debuting a program to encourage and help first time marathoners including training tips at its Web site. Nutritional drink Ensure is also a new sponsor.

Long-term sponsors include Footlocker, Continental Airlines, Asics, The New York Times, the Rudin family, a privately held real estate company in New York, Runner's World Magazine, Gatorade, Powerbar and Tiffany & Co.

Some 30,000 runners participate in the event with 2.5 million spectators lining the course.