New York City Football Club Expands Partnership With Goya Foods To Promote Sports & Healthy Eating

New York, NY – Sept. 20, 2018 (PRNewswire) New York City Football Club (NYCFC) and Goya Foods, the largest Hispanic owned food company in the United States, have today announced the renewal of the partnership to further promote the importance of living a healthy lifestyle through sports and proper nutrition.

Since the Club’s inaugural season in 2015, Goya has been a terrific NYCFC partner and is now expanding the partnership by adding more youth clinics and becoming the presenting partner of the Healthy Hat-Trick, an educational curriculum that uses soccer to teach and encourage children to lead a healthy, active lifestyle through eating a balanced diet, exercise and setting goals. With this partnership renewal, NYCFC and Goya will be able to have an even greater impact on local youth.

To celebrate the renewal of the multi-year partnership, NYCFC and Goya launched a brand new version of the Healthy Hat-Trick curriculum for the new school year and hosted a youth soccer clinic with NYCFC defender Ronald Matarrita on Wednesday, September 19, 2018 at P.S. 49 in the Bronx. The workbook will be used in P.S. 49, and a total of 14 public elementary schools throughout the City, as part of the free in-school and after-school soccer programming made possible by City in the Community, the charity proudly supported by NYCFC.

The partnership expansion also includes:

  • Four youth clinics for approximately 100 children with on-field soccer activities and workshops on the importance of education and nutrition, as well as opportunities for the children to watch NYCFC play a home match at Yankee Stadium. The clinics will be held on soccer pitches throughout New York City and at the Club’s new training facility, Etihad City Football Academy in NY.
  • The second year of #MyGoyaDish, a digital campaign featuring NYCFC players and their favorite Goya dishes in addition to a social media contest where four lucky fans won an opportunity to be part of a cook off event with Goya Chef Fernando Desa at the Institute of Culinary Education in downtown Manhattan. The winners partnered up with four team players to see who could create the best dish using Goya products.
  • Hispanic Heritage Night presented by Goya Foods at NYCFC’s home game on Saturday, September 8, 2018. The match featured a special national anthem performance, one of a kind “Vamos Celestes” scarves sold exclusively at the team store as part of the City Scarf Series, City Beats playing Latin songs during half-time and a sampling of Goya products, amongst other activities. Goya Chef Fernando Desa cooked Latin inspired dishes featured in Legends Suite at Yankee Stadium. Fans were encouraged to bring country flags to the stadium to show their Hispanic heritage pride.

Senior Vice President of Goya Foods, Joe Perez, commented:

“We look forward to a great multi-year partnership with New York City FC and the thousands of soccer fans who have supported the team from the very beginning. Goya has always believed in providing families with healthy food and supporting initiatives that will benefit the overall wellness of our communities. We believe this partnership is an ideal fit to help teach our children healthy habits and to build a foundation for a healthier future.”

To celebrate the renewal of Goya's multi-year partnership, NYCFC and Goya launched a brand new version of the Healthy Hat-Trick curriculum for the new school year and hosted a youth soccer clinic with NYCFC defender Ronald Matarrita on Wednesday, September 19, 2018 at P.S. 49 in the Bronx.

New York City FC President, Jon Patricof, continued:

“We are pleased to extend our partnership with Goya. They have been a terrific Club partner and ambassador for our sport. Through our partnership, Goya has helped us to bring unique experiences to our fans and promote healthy lifestyles in the multicultural communities that we are proud to represent by bringing together healthy food and soccer.”

About New York City Football Club

New York City Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in New York City that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Eastern Conference of the league. It was announced as the League’s 20th franchise on 21 May 2013 and is the first and only MLS Club located within the five boroughs of New York City. Majority owned by City Football Group (CFG), New York City FC plays its home games at Yankee Stadium, which is also home to minority owner, the New York Yankees.

New York City FC kicked off its inaugural MLS season in March 2015 and has former US National Team captain Claudio Reyna as its Sporting Director and Domènec Torrent as its Head Coach. Torrent, former Head Coach of Girona FC and Assistant Coach at FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich, has most recently been Pep Guardiola’s right hand man at sister club Manchester City. In November 2016, construction began on New York City FC’s elite First Team training facility featuring one and a half grass fields, team offices and medical and welfare facilities. The facility was opened for the 2018 MLS season and officially named Etihad City Football Academy in New York. The third Academy built across the globe by CFG, the design was overseen by New York based architect Rafael Viñoly, who designed the training facilities for New York City FC’s sister Clubs Manchester City FC and Melbourne City FC.

About GOYA

Founded in 1936, Goya Foods, Inc. is America’s largest Hispanic-owned food company, and has established itself as the leader in Latin American food and condiments. Goya manufactures, packages, and distributes over 2,500 high-quality food products from Spain, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America. Goya products have their roots in the culinary traditions of Hispanic communities around the world. The combination of authentic ingredients, robust seasonings and convenient preparation makes Goya products ideal for every taste and every table. For more information on Goya Foods, please visit www.goya.com.

Sam Cooke
Vice President, Communications
(347) 324-6215
sam.cooke@nycfc.com

Amanda Martson
Director, Communications
(212) 738-5894
amanda.martson@nycfc.com

ESPN to Air Five-Episode Series Profiling Spartan, The World’s Largest Obstacle Race and Endurance Brand

“Spartan: The Championship Series” to Feature Race Events with Behind-The-Scenes Content, Interviews and a Look at one of the Fastest Growing Sports on the Planet

Boston, MA – Sept. 20, 2018 (PRNewswire) Spartan brings more than one million athletes annually to its races around the world to tackle challenging obstacles and technical terrain, and now viewers can join the action on ESPN and ESPN2. “Spartan: The Championship Series, “a five-episode series, features all the action from the world’s largest obstacle race (OCR) and endurance brand’s championship events and provides an inside look at one of the fastest growing sports on the planet. The first episode featuring Spartan’s North American Championship hosted in Glen Jean, W. Va, and the elite female athletes of the sport airs Sunday, September 23 at 3pm ET on ESPN2.

“Spartan athletes are among the most skilled on the planet, and the sport of OCR continues to grow, so it’s only natural we would find a home with ESPN, the leader in sports entertainment,” said Spartan founder and CEO Joe De Sena. “‘Spartan: The Championship Series’ will introduce Spartan to ESPN’s passionate audience of sports fans who will be drawn to the intense drama that unfolds on the race course as competitors push their minds and bodies to the limit.”

The five-episode series will showcase Spartan’s most demanding events including the North American Championship presented by Yokohama; The Mountain Series presented by U.S. Airforce in Killington, Vt. and Vernon N.J.; the inaugural Para-Spartan adaptive race hosted in Laughlin, Nev.; and the World Championship and Team World Championship Powered by Rakuten, hosted in North Lake Tahoe on the rugged mountains of Squaw Valley | Alpine Meadows – home of the 1960 Winter Olympics.

In addition to the race action, episodes provide an in-depth look at the athletes who have shaped the sport of OCR with behind-the-scenes footage and interviews. Feature content will include profiles of Spartan’s elite female competitors, adaptive athletes and World Championship contenders. The series will also cover the origin story of Spartan, which has attracted more than 5 million competitors to-date.

Spartan Pro Alyssa Hawley completes the Fire Jump before crossing the finish line during the Spartan U.S. National series. The first episode of “Spartan: The Championship Series” airs Sunday, September 23 at 3pm ET on ESPN2.

Spartan events focus on sport and athleticism, pushing the bodies and minds of competitors to the limit across miles of unforgiving terrain while they conquer signature obstacles such as the Spear Throw, Inverted Wall, Monkey Bars and Barbed Wire Crawl. The unique action and growing popularity of OCR has recently garnered global attention that has spurred talk of the sport reaching the Olympic stage in the coming years.

For more information about Spartan: The Championship Series, visit Spartan.com.

About Spartan

With more than 200 events across more than 40 countries on six continents, Spartan is the world’s largest obstacle race (OCR) and endurance brand. Providing transformation through sport, Spartan attracts more than one million annual participants across all fitness levels, from beginners to elite. More than five million participants have finished Spartan events, creating a lifestyle that extends beyond races including health and wellness products, training and nutrition programs, and popular media content, which has made OCR one of the fastest growing sports in the world. Spartan’s Global Championship series feature three race formats including the 3+Mile/20+ Obstacle “Sprint,” 8+ Mile/25+ Obstacle “Super” and 12+ Mile/30+ Obstacle “Beast,” which lead to the Spartan World Championship powered by Rakuten in North Lake Tahoe, CA. Visit spartan.com for more information and registration.