World Poker Tour, Full Tilt Reach TV Sponsorship Pact
World Poker Tour? parent company WPT Enterprises, Inc. and FullTiltPoker.net? have announced a television sponsorship deal that brings together the two prominent poker entities. Under the deal, announced today, Full Tilt receives title sponsorship and exclusive rights to in-show educational gaming brand integration for the 26 all-new WPT Season VII episodes. Those 26 episodes are scheduled to air on Fox Sports Net for American audiences, though the deal also includes Season VII broadcasts to Mexico as well.
The deal has been described as being part of a "unique sponsorship model for the sports and entertainment television industry," and gives Full Tilt a firm foothold in poker-tour affiliation while enhancing the WPT's own tour-sponsorship business model.
Steve Lipscomb, WPTE founder, president and CEO, offered the following: "We are delighted to be in partnership with FullTiltPoker.net? and bring together two very strong brands with proven global reach and loyal network of poker fans. With WPT's incredible brand value and TV distribution through FSN coupled with Full Tilt's massive online following, this partnership opens more channels to reach new fans and continue feeding the appetite for new poker content."
Full Tilt, of course, features an extensive pro-player lineup built around the 13 members of Team Full Tilt �� Chris Ferguson, Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, Jennifer Harman, Erick Lindgren, Erik Seidel, Andy Bloch, Phil Gordon, John Juanda, Mike Matusow, Gus Hansen, Allen Cunningham and Patrik Antonius, who have collectively won 10 WPT titles, 35 World Series of Poker bracelets and more than $80 million in career earnings. Dozens of other prominent players also play with Full Tilt sponsorship, and the site has branched out into poker instruction as well in recent months.
