Inter Miami CF scores again with Florida Blue training center sponsorship

Inter Miami CF continues to flex its commercial muscle in South Florida. The third-year MLS club has secured a new naming-rights deal for its training center with health insurer Florida Blue that will pay the team an undisclosed seven-figure sum annually through 2027.

The 50,000-square-foot facility in Fort Lauderdale, which opened in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, will be known as the Florida Blue Training Center for the state’s Blue Cross Blue Shield plan. Florida Blue’s logo will also be worn by Inter Miami players on the upper back of their training tops beginning in 2023. 

Though the club has yet to break through on the pitch, it has found success selling high-value sponsorship inventory. Since Chief Business Officer Xavier Asensi joined Inter Miami from Spanish powerhouse FC Barcelona last year, the club has inked a naming-rights partnership with Autonation for DRV PNK Stadium; a kit front deal with cryptofinance company XBTO; a sleeve sponsorship with software company Xmanna; an academy presenting sponsorship with Baptist Health; and now the training center deal with Florida Blue. 

“After 18 months, I think we can say that everything has been very smooth and successful,” said Nicolò Zini, Inter Miami senior director of partnerships and broadcast, who made the move from Barcelona to Miami with Asensi. “We’ve built a partnership structure and a partnership program that really resonates.”

Only about half of the 28 teams in MLS have sleeve and training center sponsors. Zini said that the club expects to rank in the “top five or six” in the league in annual revenue following the recent spate of sponsorship deals. 

“We know that we have to be at the top of the league in terms of financials and partnerships for two main reasons,” Zini said. “One, obviously the Miami market is among the largest with L.A. and New York, and second, the power of the brand and the difference that we can bring with Hispanics.” 

Zini said the likelihood that the facility would be selected for use in conjunction with the 2026 FIFA World Cup was a key selling point, as the home-soil tournament is expected to shine a bright light on all aspects of the sport in North America. Zini and Benjamin Silver, senior manager of business development, brokered the deal for Inter Miami, working primarily with Krystal Ritter, Florida Blue’s senior manager of experiential marketing.  

With the major assets locked up, Zini said the club will look to sell sponsorships for areas within DRV PNK Stadium and add partners in vacant categories, including airline, cruises and mortgage. The club also has another major naming-rights deal on the horizon as it prepares to move into a new stadium in 2025 as part of its Miami Freedom Park development.