Mazda Doubles Down on Cycling With a Multi-Year Youth Mountain Bike Deal
Five weeks after teaming up with Trek, Mazda has signed a multi-year deal making it the official automotive partner of US youth mountain bike racing through 2029.
Mazda has signed a multi-year agreement with the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA), becoming the official automotive and SUV partner of US youth mountain bike racing through 2029. It is the automaker's second cycling deal in five weeks, and together the two point to a deliberate strategy rather than a one-off sponsorship.
Under the agreement, announced September 16, Mazda also becomes the presenting sponsor of NICA's three Regional Events this fall: the Eastern Regionals in Charlottesville, Virginia, on October 24–25, the Central Regionals in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on November 7–8, and the Western Regionals in St. George, Utah, on November 14–15. The company says it will bring an expo setup and a trailside feature to each stop.
The audience Mazda is buying into is substantial. Founded in 2009 as a nonprofit, NICA now oversees 30 state and regional leagues and, by its own count, works with more than 26,800 middle and high school student-athletes and over 14,000 volunteer coaches every year. The regional race weekends have become the organization's marquee gatherings: the most recent Eastern Regional alone drew more than 2,500 riders, coaches, parents, and volunteers, according to the announcement.
The deal slots in next to the one Mazda announced on August 11 with Trek Bicycle, which made the automaker the exclusive automotive partner of Trek's off-road race programs, including the Trek-Unbroken XC and downhill teams and the Driftless gravel squad. That agreement puts a fleet of CX-50s at the disposal of Trek athletes and staff at events across North America. Trek, in turn, is one of NICA's longest-standing backers, so the two deals interlock: Mazda now has a presence in American off-road cycling from the pro paddock down to middle school race weekends.
The logic is not hard to read. The CX-50 is Mazda's outdoor-oriented crossover, and race venues full of bike-hauling families are exactly the crowd the company wants standing next to one. Grassroots youth sports also deliver something a TV spot cannot: the same parents, at the same trailheads, weekend after weekend, for years.
Neither side has disclosed financial terms. The first visible piece of the partnership arrives at the Eastern Regionals in Charlottesville at the end of October.
