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Toyota to Sponsor ‘Monday Night Football’ Halftime Shows

May 22, 2006  •  Post A Comment

Toyota and Lexus will sponsor halftime shows on “Monday Night Football” as the franchise moves to ESPN this season, the automaker announced Monday.

Lexus, Toyota’s luxury brand, will sponsor nine of the 17 “MNF” broadcasts, with the Toyota brand sponsoring the other eight.

The deal comes as the network moves to nail down sponsors for its NFL broadcasts. With “MNF” moving to ESPN and NBC starting its “Sunday Night Football” broadcast franchise, sponsors have had to make advertising decisions beyond the normal renewals. Toyota also will be a sponsor of NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.”

The Lexus and Toyota sponsorships are designed to go beyond halftime. In some of its sponsorship packages, ESPN is offering to turn the game into a 24-hour event, including programming and branding on ESPN.com, “SportsCenter,” ESPN Radio and ESPN Magazine.

On ESPN.com Lexus will sponsor “The Lexus Perfect Play.” Viewers will be able to vote for the best play from Sunday’s game, and the winner will be revealed during the Monday night halftime show.

Toyota will sponsor a number of games and content connected to the game on ESPN.com.