Why fintech lender Avant is partnering with Major League Soccer

by James · August 8, 2022

Fintech lender Avant will have a big presence in Saint Paul, Minnesota, this week amid the buzz surrounding Major League Soccer’s All-Star Game.

The Chicago-based company recently became the league’s exclusive credit card sponsor — part of a play for growth in a sport whose fans are younger and more diverse than other American professional sports leagues.

The exact length of the multi-year deal and its financial terms were not disclosed.

Major League Soccer offers Avant, which offers personal loans and credit cards, the opportunity to reach a relatively young, diverse audience.

Avant sees the MLS sponsorship as a way to reach “underbanked” fans, said Kevin Chin, fintech’s head of business development and partnerships.

“People who are normally turned away by large established banks are customers for whom we strive to deliver value,” he said in an interview. “Partnering with a world-class brand will give an immediate boost to our own brand from day one and give us exclusive access to their customer base.”

Avant launched in 2013 as an online lender focused on consumers with sub-prime credit scores. In 2017, it added a credit card, targeting Americans with FICO scores between 550 and 700. Last year, Avant bought neobank level, and it plans to launch mobile banking soon, according to the company’s website.

The MLS deal centers around Avant’s MLS Forward credit card, which offers benefits such as rewards for purchases of MLS merchandise, food and gas, as well as early access to ticket purchases and express access to special events such as the All-Star Game on Wednesday and the MLS Cup.

Avant is also licensed to create specific credit card designs for 21 MLS clubs in the United States. (Currently Bank of Montreal offer credit card branded for the league’s three Canadian franchises.) And it will be the official credit card sponsor of Major League Soccer’s digital-gaming league eMLS.

In addition, Avant will be the “presenting sponsor” of MLS matches broadcast on the Spanish-language network Univision during the second half of the season. And the logo will be displayed in stadium lights during other nationally televised matches.

The football sponsorship is an example of how fintechs are increasingly competing for high-profile sports marketing opportunities.

Since 2018, the number of fintech and cryptocurrency brands buying sports sponsorships and media deals has increased by 20%, according to an April report from data provider SponsorUnited.

“Avant wants to place itself in that conversation,” SponsorUnited President Bob Lynch said in an email.

Avant’s focus on consumers who lack access to credit from traditional banks may resonate with soccer’s American fan base. Consumers who have trouble accessing regular credit from banks include many younger adults and immigrants.

American football fans are younger than other sports, according to a report published in April by the research firm Morning Consult. About 38% of the sport’s fans are between the ages of 18 and 34, compared to 30% of all sports fans, according to the report.

Soccer also has the most diverse fan base among major sports, according to the Morning Consult survey. People of color represented 40% of the sport’s fan base, with Hispanics representing 27% of all adults who identify as soccer fans.