The bank is affiliated with both teams.
By Allissa Kline / Reporter, Buffalo Business First
Don’t expect M&T Bank as a corporation to choose sides this weekend when the Buffalo Bills open their 2018 season against the Baltimore Ravens.
That’s because M&T – the Buffalo-based lender with substantial operations in Baltimore – supports both national football teams, said Betsey Locke, senior vice president of advertising and sponsorships.
“We’re fans as a bank, whether it’s the Bills or the Ravens,” Locke said. “We love our teams.”
The Bills are scheduled to play the Ravens at 1 p.m. Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.
Sunday’s game will be the eighth all-time meeting between the teams. The last time the Bills won against the Ravens, it was September 2013 in Buffalo, 23-20.
M&T (NYSE: MTB) has sponsorship agreements with both teams – a deal with the Bills that was most recently renewed in 2014 and a deal with the Ravens that runs through the 2027 season.
In Buffalo, M&T is the “official bank” of the Bills and sponsors the M&T Club, Family Zone and Comfort Zone at New Era Field. The bank’s partnership with the Bills dates back to 1985.
In Baltimore, the bank has naming rights on the stadium as part of a 10-year, $60 million agreement announced in 2014. The relationship dates back to 2003 when M&T acquired AllFirst Financial Inc. in Baltimore. M&T also has upped in marketing campaign in the Baltimore market for this season as well as upgraded the stadium.
M&T employs more than 2,300 workers in the state of Maryland and Washington, D.C.
Last year, M&T added yet another football sponsorship, becoming the “official community bank” of the New York Jets. The six-year deal followed M&T’s acquisition of new Jersey-based Hudson City Bancorp Inc. in 2015.
This week, employees in both Buffalo and Baltimore are engaging is what Locke calls a “friendly rivalry” as their hometown teams get ready to meet. On Friday, all employees are invited to wear their team jerseys and colors.
“We have fun with this,” Locke said. “There’s a little bit of a spirit week going on.”
M&T once again will run a football-centered advertising campaign. This year’s iteration launches Thursday and includes footage captured by fans that will be shown on television, radio and billboards and in branches.