• by Karl Greenberg , October 14, 2008

After the Giants played the Dolphins in the UK last year, the National Football League has vowed to play at least one game there during the next three seasons. The first is later this month, when the San Diego Chargers play the New Orleans Saints. And Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire will be title sponsor of the Bridgestone International Series of NFL games. 

The Bridgestone brand, which also is the "Official Tire of the National Football League" and title sponsor of the Bridgestone Super Bowl Halftime Show, will have a presence when the Chargers take on the Saints at Wembley Stadium in London on Oct. 26.

Bridgestone will have branded LED boards at field level, and the Bridgestone brand logo will be in various places in the stadium. The company will also be presenting sponsor of the pre-game show on Sky Sports, on videoboard features and print program ads.

"As a global company, sponsoring the International Series game is a terrific opportunity for the Bridgestone brand to get high exposure here in the United States, in Europe and beyond," said John Baratta, President, Consumer Replacement Tire, BFNT, in a release. CBS will broadcast the game in the United States, with BBC Two and Sky Sports carrying the game in the UK. Bridgestone Firestone says the game will be broadcast in more than 200 countries worldwide.

The company says the first 40,000 tickets for the game sold out in 90 minutes back in May, and that 15,000 freed up in June sold in 30 minutes.

Bridgestone Firestone uses its Bridgestone brand for pro sports and Firestone for motorsports. The latter re-upped this year as Official Tire of the National Hockey League, and is also official tire of the PGA Tour and The Golf Channel. Firestone brand is the Official Tire of the Indianapolis 500-Mile, the IndyCar Series and Indy Lights Series.

Also returning as sponsors for the International Series are: Canon, Coors Light, GMC, Reebok and Visa.

If this sounds vaguely familiar, it's because Bridgestone did a similar program earlier this month as part of its multi-year deal with the National Hockey League, to promote the tire brand both in the U.S. and Canada.

Bridgestone was title sponsor of the Bridgestone NHL Premiere 2008, a pair of matches between the Ottawa Senators and Pittsburgh Penguins, and the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning in Stockholm and Prague, respectively.