Jelly Belly Sweetens Sponsorship Deal

The Jelly Belly Candy Company announced this week the extension of its contract to sponsor the Jelly Belly Pro Cycling Team. The three year extension includes an undisclosed increase to coincide with the launch of the company's line of Sport Beans.^TM

"The growing interest in professional cycling coupled with our company’s commitment to the active lifestyle of today’s consumers made this sponsorship very attractive," said Jelly Belly President Bob Simpson. "With the launch of Sport Beans^TM underway, we believe expanded synergistic opportunities with a professional cycling team of this caliber offer a very exciting marketing program. The riders and team staff have been some of our strongest brand ambassadors."

The Jelly Belly/PoolGel Pro Cycling Team is currently ranked third in the NRC Team Standings as their 2005 domestic race season comes to a close this weekend at the San Francisco Grand Prix. The expanded commitment from Jelly Belly will certainly help the team in their aspirations of becoming the top team in North America.

"I'm overwhelmed with joy that the Jelly Belly Candy Company is making this significant commitment to our organization and to the sport of cycling," said team Director Danny Van Haute. "I want to thank everyone at Jelly Belly for providing me with the resources to build the best team in the country."