• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, March 12, 2014

USA Today Sports Images and MLS have joined forces with Brand Affinity Technologies to launch mls.fanphotos.com, which will serve as the official photo store for MLS. The deal gives Brand Affinity rights to produce products, including reprints, greeting cards, mugs, ornaments, magnets, coasters and other items featuring MLS photos.

Brand Affinity already operates online photo stores for teams in the NFL, NBA, NHL, and Major League Baseball.

USA Today Sports Images provides photos to a number of major media companies around the world directly or through a global distribution agreement with Reuters Media.

As noted, this is the latest in a series of new initiatives from USA Today Sports.

In September 2013, it re-launched The Big Lead, a sports site which combines sports news and commentary with pop culture, celebrity news and gossip. The relaunch integrates responsive design to improve the interactive experience for readers across a number of devices and channels, including mobile and social.

The redesign will also make The Big Lead more suitable for native advertising, with an assist from native ad provider Nativo, tapped by USA Today Sports for native ads last year.

And in October of last year, the USA Today Sports Media Group announced that it would be expanding its relationship with the PGA Tour to include new digital marketing initiatives across both partners’ digital platforms.