September 9, 2009 – (HOSTSEARCH.COM) –
GoDaddy.com has sponsorships in NASCAR and IndyCar. The Internet powerhouse also sponsors spokespeople who compete in professional poker and golf... now you can add professional bull riding to the list. The dominant domain name registrar and Web hosting provider is expanding its reach, signing on with the Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR).
The emerging sport tests gutsy riders who attempt to stay mounted for at least eight seconds while a big, brazen bull bucks wildly. It's risky, it is fast and it is Go Daddy's latest endeavor into sport sponsorships. The GoDaddy.com Invitational pits the world's top 40 bull riders against each other over the course of a two-day competition at the Rose Garden in Portland, Ore. Oct. 2 and 3.
"Bull riding used to be a niche sport, but it's quickly growing into a big league event," said GoDaddy.com CEO and Founder Bob Parsons. "It's about as American as any sport there is -- and it takes nerve," added Parsons, who completed two Running of the Bulls events himself in Pamplona, Spain. "These professional riders are as tough as any athlete in the world. They're edgy too and we like that."
The outspoken CEO has frequently commented on his CEO video blog, www.BobParsons.me, about the value in increasing advertising budgets while other companies cut back in their efforts to survive difficult economic times. Over the last several months, Go Daddy has signed on to sponsor several NASCAR races, sponsored the Indianapolis 500 broadcast for a third year and extended its television advertising into professional hockey and baseball.
The GoDaddy.com Invitational sponsorship deal with the PBR includes Go Daddy branding on everything from venue banners to the actual chute gates. It will also feature another one of the company's new sponsorship endeavors -- Go Daddy Girl Erin Kalin, who is set to perform the National Anthem both days. Erin is a country singer, mother of four and the company's newest Go Daddy Girl.
About The Go Daddy Group, Inc.
Go Daddy is a leading provider of services that enable individuals and businesses to establish, maintain and evolve an online presence. Go Daddy provides a variety of domain name registration plans and Web site design and hosting packages, as well as a broad array of on-demand services. These include products such as SSL Certificates, Domains by Proxy private registration, ecommerce Web site hosting, blog templates and blog software, podcast packages and online photo hosting. The Go Daddy Group, Inc. has more than 36 million domain names under management. Go Daddy registers, renews or transfers a domain name every second. GoDaddy.com is the world's No. 1 domain name registrar according to Name Intelligence, Inc. GoDaddy.com is also rated the world's largest hostname provider according to Netcraft Ltd. During 2008, The Go Daddy Group registered more than one-third of all new domain names created in the top six generic top-level domains, or gTLDs, including .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz and .mobi.
