LOS ANGELES and CHICAGO and TORONTO, Jan. 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ – Angel City Football Club today announced that BMO has joined the ACFC family as a Founding Partner. The announcement coincides with BMO announcing it secured the naming rights to Angel City’s home stadium now called BMO Stadium. Angel City will kick off its season at BMO Stadium in downtown Los Angeles in late March 2023.
The partnership represents the bank’s commitments to equity in sport and helping to grow the game in North America, reinforcing BMO as The Bank of Soccer. It also complements the U.S. expansion pillar of BMO’s North American growth strategy, where BMO currently serves clients through over 500 branches, access to 42,000 ATMs, more than 5,000 employees, and digital banking services in all 50 U.S. states.
As The Bank of Soccer, BMO partners with MLS teams including LAFC, Toronto FC, CF Montréal, and Vancouver Whitecaps FC. BMO recently partnered with Toronto FC to launch the Women in Soccer Fellowship, a first-of-its-kind in Canada initiative providing women unique on-the-job experience in coaching, scouting, player development, team services and medical, creating a direct pathway to increase the number of women in sport.
The bank has also invested over C$25 million to engage, develop and cultivate youth soccer at every level of competition across Canada since 2005, supporting 150,000 youth athletes in the sport. As a Premier Partner of Ontario Soccer, BMO’s support of more than 100,000 girls is helping enhance gender equity in the game and helping create systemic change at all levels of soccer. Through community impact-driven partnerships like these, BMO is growing the game of soccer across North America.
Both organizations are aligned in their commitment to eliminating barriers to inclusion and driving equity in sport. BMO is committed to supporting underrepresented groups within soccer to level the playing field.
“Inspired by our Purpose, to Boldly Grow the Good in business and life, and driven by a commitment to progress and advancing gender equity in soccer, this partnership unifies BMO and ACFC in a common goal,” said Cameron Fowler, Chief Strategy and Operations Officer, BMO. “As The Bank of Soccer, we are committed to growing the game across North America, founded upon a belief that by creating equal opportunities, we can inspire a new generation of players, leaders, and coaches to reach their full potential on and off the field. We are excited to share the bank’s passion for the game with Angel City FC and the Los Angeles community.”
“We are excited to work alongside BMO to create opportunities across Los Angeles to help build future leaders and grow the game of soccer together,” said Julie Uhrman, Co-Founder and President of Angel City Football Club. “We are inspired by all that BMO has done to support soccer across North America and now in Los Angeles. We are thrilled to welcome them to the Angel City Family and make a positive impact.”
As with each sponsor of ACFC, BMO and ACFC will reallocate 10% of the partnership back into the community through the Angel City Sponsorship Model. ACFC and BMO will reallocate 10% of the sponsorship to Girls Play Los Angeles (GPLA). BMO will be supporting over 400 high school-aged girls and non-binary youth across Los Angeles with no-cost access to soccer. The program will include dedicated leadership development sessions to prepare participants for college admission and encourage a life-long personal and professional relationship with sport.
To further this partnership, ACFC will create a content series with BMO highlighting equity discussions in the community. This series is designed to amplify the equity discussion and its progress with BMO executives, the community, and ACFC circles.
SOURCE BMO Financial Group
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