Melbourne, Australia, March 4, 2020 - NEC Australia, a wholly owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation, has today announced a major partnership with the Essendon Football Club, including naming rights sponsorship of its training and administrative base, ‘The Hangar’.

The agreement will see NEC Australia recognised as the Official ICT Solutions Partner and Official Commercial Partner for the Essendon Football Club, one of the most popular and successful clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL).

The multi-season Premium Sponsorship agreement will include match day advertising at Essendon’s Marvel Stadium and Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) home games, as well as development of a ‘living lab’ featuring NEC’s world-leading technology for visitors and Essendon fans to be immersed in inside The Hangar.

“It is fitting that NEC celebrates 50 years in Australia by partnering with a club as famous as Essendon and a sporting code as loved and wide-reaching as the AFL,” said NEC Australia’s Managing Director and CEO – ANZ, Mitsuhiro Murooka today.

“My time in Australia quickly taught me how popular and important the AFL is to sports fans and large business communities and how much support Essendon enjoys, not just in Melbourne, but nationwide.”

“Sport across the world is always changing with technology and technology is what NEC is all about.”

“This partnership will highlight the many areas of NEC’s expertise in servicing business and government sectors, including our world-leading Safer Cities technologies.”

“We look forward to empowering fans and business communities through this strategic partnership featuring NEC’s world-leading technologies, our emphasis on the best possible customer experience and Essendon’s leadership in developing sport for current and future generations,” Mr Murooka said.

Essendon Chief Executive Officer Xavier Campbell has welcomed NEC Australia to the Essendon family.

“On behalf of the Club, I want to formally welcome NEC Australia to the Bombers through this exciting new alliance,” Mr Campbell said.

“This strategic partnership presents an opportunity for the Club to strengthen its commitment to innovation in technology, while also transforming the customer experience for members and supporters and exploring opportunities and technologies to improve team performance across our high performance and data/analytics departments.”

“We believe the value NEC will bring to The Hangar specifically and the Club more broadly will ensure our facility continues to be industry leading and through this partnership we will support NEC’s exciting growth plans for the future,” Mr Campbell said.

NEC has a series of strong partnership agreements with major sporting organisations around the globe, including ownership of the NEC Green Rockets in the Japan Rugby Top League, an international partnership with the Washington Wizards in the USA (NBA) and a sponsorship agreement with the Los Angeles Angels in the USA (MLB). These agreements reinforce the recognition of NEC as a brand that is committed to creating social value through innovative technologies and partnerships throughout the world.

Essendon reports top tier rankings in the AFL for overall game and home game attendances and overall fan base and has almost half of the organisation’s fans living outside Victoria.

The NEC-ESSENDON Football Club agreement begins in the 2020 AFL season.

***

About NEC Australia
NEC Australia is a leading technology company, delivering a complete portfolio of ICT solutions and services to large enterprise, small business and government organisations. We deliver innovative solutions to help customers gain greater business value from their technology investments.

NEC Australia specialises in information and communications technology solutions and services in multi-vendor environments. Solutions and services include: IT applications and solutions development, unified communications, complex communications solutions, network solutions, display solutions, biometrics, research and development services, systems integration and professional, technical and managed services. For more information, visit NEC Australia at www.nec.com.au

About NEC Corporation
NEC Corporation is a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies that benefit businesses and people around the world. The NEC Group globally provides "Solutions for Society" that promote the safety, security, efficiency and equality of society. Under the company's corporate message of "Orchestrating a brighter world," NEC aims to help solve a wide range of challenging issues and to create new social value for the changing world of tomorrow. For more information, visit NEC at https://www.nec.com.