Amway North America has posted a video teaser to a new sponsorship deal –

The video references earlier sponsorship deals, with a “Crown” and a “Champion”, with a football as a hint. It’s obvious these refer to Amway’s earlier sponsorship of the Miss America contest and their recently retired sponsorship of NFL legend Kurt Warner.

But what’s the new deal? The introduction to the video on Amway’s website says –

Get ready for a sponsorship announcement that will really move the ball!
This month, Amway will kick-off an exclusive national sponsorship program that has the potential to capture the attention and active participation of more than 2 billion people! This history-making partnership will provide an undeniable appeal to individuals of all ages! Look for complete program details to be announced on February 19.

In the meantime, you’d better put a helmet on because it’s going to be a huge hit!

We have to wait a little over a week until the announcement, but I can’t help but theorize – it’s a national sponsorship program, which implies the United States, but it has “the potential to capture the attention and active participation of more than 2 billion people”, which is way more than the entire population of North America – so it’s a national sponsorship with global reach.

But how can a sponsorship of some US based sport gain the active participation of people around the world? Or is it a sport? “Champion” certainly implies it is.

So I googled around. Around 3 billion people watched the last Football World Cup. I’ve been unable to find data for the NBA, but it has big coverage in China – Amway’s largest market. The NFL is over for the year. NHL doesn’t have the global coverage. Formula 1 does, but it doesn’t tie in at all with Amway’s health & beauty market image, nor does the hint in the headlin for “move the ball” fit.

Football initially seems the most likely market – Amway sponsors the Amway Canadian Championship, they work together with AC Milan in Europe, and have previously sponsored both the San Jose Earthquakes and the LA Sol, as well as footballing superstars like Ronaldinho and Marta.

Frankly I’d be stunned if Amway sponsored the World Cup finals, but it’s in Brazil, so it’s not a “national sponsorship” for the US. Neither would say, sponsorship of the Champions’ League in Europe. The only US-based sport I can think of with large global appeal is the NBA – so perhaps Amway sponsoring the NBA finals?

Only other possibilities I can think of – US Open Tennis, US Open or Masters Golf? Any others?

And how does any of this get “global participation”??

I guess we just have to wait and see!

Update: Major League Baseball is another obvious option I missed – it’s a national sport in the US and it involves both balls and helmets. Amway has an existing relationship with MLB – but does it actively engage 2 billion people? Frankly I’m beginning to suspect I’m completely on the wrong track – heck, it could even be something with BodyKey and a weightloss related TV show like The Biggest Loser? After all, it’s estimated 2 billion people are overweight, and I’ve discovered that Amway and The Biggest Loser Resorts share the same supplier for their weightloss support websites.

Update2: Amway’s new sponsorship revealed!