Sporting Kansas City’s uniforms get fresh look for 2022 with new jersey-front partner
Sporting Kansas City and Compass Minerals are expanding upon their existing partnership, with the Overland Park-based company becoming the Major League Soccer team’s jersey-front sponsor through the 2028 season.
The enhanced partnership and new logo were unveiled during a company-wide event at Children’s Mercy Park on Wednesday night. The festivities included a video message from coach Peter Vermes and team captain Johnny Russell wearing the new primary jersey featuring the new logo.
Last season, the team’s jersey-fronts were emblazoned with Victory Project, the club’s initiative “dedicated to helping children through all of life’s challenges,” according to the organization’s website. That replaced longtime jersey sponsor Ivy Investments, which like Compass Minerals is based in nearby Overland Park.
Compass Minerals’ first mine became operational in 1844, and today the company is the leading salt producer in North America and the United Kingdom.
“The unprecedented growth of our partnership together is truly an incredible success story for both of our businesses and both of our brands,” Sporting KC president and CEO Jake Reid said in a statement. “As the presenting partner on the front of our jerseys for the next seven seasons, Compass Minerals will now, quite literally, be part of the fabric of our club.”
The relationship began in 2018 when Compass Minerals provided Sporting with nutritional products for the playing field at Children’s Mercy Park, as well as salt for the club’s parking lots during the winter months.
In 2020, Sporting KC players started wearing a Compass Minerals patch on the shoulder-sleeve of their jerseys. Then came naming rights for the team’s training facility and youth-sports complex.
Compass Minerals president and CEO Kevin Crutchfield said ongoing respect between the two organizations led to this week’s expansion of their relationship.
“We really got to know the owners and the staff and we have a very aligned value system,” Crutchfield told The Star. “We had the opportunity that they presented to us to take over the front of the jersey, and given where we are in our growth profile as a company, we thought it was time to make that leap along with a new logo to expand our relationship as part of the Sporting KC family even further.”
The challenge of building corporate partnerships has grown during the COVID-19 pandemic, but so, too, have opportunities.
“From a sports perspective, that was not the ideal time to be getting into a larger relationship,” Reid told The Star. “However, in some ways that accelerated the ‘find out who you’re working with’ perspective — and for us, they were fantastic to work with.
“We had to basically rip the contract up and say, ‘OK, we can’t do half the stuff we said. What are we going to do?’ And we figured it out. I think the last two years were — in spite of what was a really challenging time in the world for everybody — fantastic from a partnership standpoint.”
In addition to being emblazoned on the front of the team’s primary kit from last season, the Compass Minerals logo will appear on the club’s secondary jersey, which is due to be released soon.
This story was originally published February 10, 2022 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Sporting Kansas City’s uniforms get fresh look for 2022 with new jersey-front partner."