Boston Marathon adds Bank of America as sponsor, drops John Hancock

The Boston Athletic Association announced Monday morning that it would be replacing John Hancock with Bank of America as the primary sponsor of the Boston Marathon.

The announcement comes nearly seven months after John Hancock decided not to renew its contract with the BAA beyond 2023’s race. The financial services firm cut ties with the Boston Red Sox in July after decades as the team’s partner.

With its new sponsor, the BAA ensured that the branding of the marathon would still hold a familiar shape.

The 10-year deal will rename the race to the “Boston Marathon presented by Bank of America.” Both the title sponsor and the BAA made sure that the words “Boston Marathon” would remain most important, as they had been with John Hancock.

There were some questions over whether or not the bank would put its name front an center like it did for the “Bank of America Chicago Marathon”, but the group’s President of Massachusetts, Michael Chamberlain squashed that idea.

“We’re one of their core sponsors, and anything that may come of it, whether it be good press or what we can do collectively, will come out of the partnership,” Chamberlain said. “We don’t have to have our name as the frontline, that’s not what we’re about.”

While Bank of America is following in the footsteps of the previous deal in terms of naming rights, there are some key differences between the two partnerships.

Rather than just sponsoring the marathon as John Hancock did, Bank of America will be the lead partner for several other BAA races. The bank is already set to sponsor the 5K, 10K, half marathon and other local running events.

There are also plans to work with Boston Public Schools and the Special Olympics that are still being worked through with the two groups.

The BAA’s new CEO Jack Fleming, sees this partnership as an entirely new way to grow the group and expand its outreach and impact.

“This is a new starting line for us,” Fleming said. “We’re still in Hopkinton for the marathon but metaphorically speaking, it’s a new starting line for us.”