CHARLOTTE -- S.F.-based mobile banking firm Chime is set to make its debut this week as the presenting sponsor of the MLS All-Star Game in Charlotte. The first-year MLS sponsor will have its logo on the front of the kits worn by the MLS All-Stars in Wednesday’s game at Bank of America Stadium against the Liga MX All-Stars and present a halftime show featuring R&B singer Ciara.
Filling the presenting sponsor position for the All-Star Game, which had been vacant since MLS’s deal with Target expired after the 2024 season, was a key priority heading into the 2026 season. While financial terms of Chime’s deal with the league were not disclosed, the All-Star sponsorship is among MLS’s most valuable assets.
“It is our marquee event, if you think about it,” MLS EVP/Partnership Marketing & Media Solutions Jen Cramer said. “And it’s no longer just a game. There is the game itself, but it’s starting to become more of a platform that allows our partners to engage fans through all the things that we saw just this past summer [at the World Cup]: sport, music, food, community and hospitality.”
While Chime has a history in sports marketing, including seven seasons as the jersey patch for the NBA’s Mavericks and a recent debut as a jersey sponsor for the WNBA’s Portland Fire, the agreement with MLS is the company’s first at the league level.
“Having the All-Star game right on the back of the World Cup is really how we made the calculation,” Chime Chief Marketing & Growth Officer Vineet Mehra said. “We feel like it’s going to be a huge win for MLS, for soccer in the United States and for Chime to be just a part of the storytelling on what a big movement this is becoming here in the U.S.”
On Saturday, Chime brought its Compound Combine event series to the NASCAR HOF on Saturday morning, offering young fans the opportunity to participate in a series of financial literacy-themed soccer skills challenges alongside MLS legend Landon Donovan.
Soccer Celebration: The league’s own All-Star festivities also kicked off over the weekend, with more than 10,000 fans attending its annual Soccer Celebration at Romare Bearden Park over two days. More than a dozen MLS partners had a presence at the festival, including AT&T, Audi, Campbell Snacks, Caterpillar, Celsius, Coca-Cola, Continental Tire, Discount Tire, DoorDash, Febreze, Jameson, Michelob Ultra and The Home Depot.
For the first time, The Home Depot held a watch part as part of Soccer Celebration on Saturday night, screening Charlotte FC’s road game against Red Bull N.Y. The initiative is part of an effort to continue on the brand’s momentum in soccer coming out of the World Cup, during which it sponsored both FIFA and U.S. Soccer.
“For the first time, a lot of our stuff across everything we were doing, whether you saw Beckham on the TV spot or then you saw Beckham’s backyard or then you saw us in social, it was all really interwoven,” The Home Depot VP/Integrated Marketing Allison Kolber said. “So, moving forward, we’ll continue to think about how we can bring our communications closer together across touchpoints to make sure that we’re making the maximum impact with the campaigns we put into market.”
AT&T, which returns as the presenting sponsor of Tuesday night’s MLS All-Star Skills Challenge, will be putting on a fireworks display after that event at Truist Field. It marks the first time since 2019 that the league is holding its Skills Challenge at a different venue than the All-Star Game, a sensible move given that it historically draws a smaller crowd. At the All-Star Game, AT&T will offer its new Turbo Live service, which grants fans access to a data boost for streaming and sharing.
“It helps them basically give them a more enhanced experience so that they can stream, post, share videos, engage on social media, share photos with their friends and families back home or with each other during the game,” AT&T AVP/Sponsorships & Experiential Sabina Ahmed said.
