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Leading Tourism brand, Visit Rwanda, has made ambitious presence in the United States of America sports market with multi-year deals becoming sponsors of National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Football League (NFL), franchises, the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Rams, respectively.
Rwanda continues to make hug progress with tourism by strategic branding and sponsorship of leading sports brands.
Both deals make innovative Visit Rwanda the first African tourism brand in both the NBA and NFL.
“Sport connects people, uniting communities through shared values of excellence and aspiration. Through sponsorships with the LA Clippers and LA Rams, Rwanda and Los Angeles unite to promote the spirit of the game” said Jean-Guy Afrika, Rwanda Development Board CEO.
“This engagement enables us to export Rwanda’s unrivaled natural beauty and extraordinary biodiversity to the people of Los Angeles as well as NBA and NFL fans everywhere”, he added.
Clippers
Visit Rwanda logo will be on all game and practice jerseys of the Clippers, in addition to a tourism package as official tourism sponsor of the Clippers.
Clippers and Visit Rwanda will launch community initiatives in Rwanda and L.A. as part of a mission to promote basketball worldwide with court renovations and coaching clinics.
The San Diego Clippers, the team’s G League affiliate, will also host youth coaches from Rwanda for training sessions in San Diego each year.
This sponsorship builds on the NBA’s broader commitment to globalize the game. The league has invested in developing basketball internationally for more than four decades, including by creating the Basketball Africa League (BAL), a partnership with the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) featuring 12 club teams from across Africa that completed its fifth season in June 2025.
Rams
In addition, Visit Rwanda will become an official international tourism sponsor of the Los Angeles Rams, SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park, the largest urban mixed-use development under construction in the Western United States. SoFi Stadium, Hollywood Park and Intuit Dome are all located in Inglewood, California separated by Century Boulevard.
“This is a tremendous opportunity to have Visit Rwanda sponsor SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park,” said Otto Maly, President, Kroenke Holdings. “SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park were built to be the World Stage and a true international destination. We are pleased to have the Rwanda Development Board choose to promote tourism and travel to Rwanda here at Hollywood Park, which will host a historic string of global events over the next few years.”
Visit Rwanda will be able to highlight the natural beauty of their country through innovative design elements.
Visit Rwanda will also receive digital advertising time on SoFi Stadium’s acclaimed Infinity Screen as well as LEDs and IPTVs within the stadium and across Hollywood Park. These advertisements will appear during Rams games and non-NFL events.
Previous Sponsorship/partnership
Previous deals in Europe includes partnerships with Premier Leage brand, Arsenal, Ligue 1 brand, Paris Saint-Germain, La Liga brand, Atlético de Madrid and an academy arrangement with FC Bayern Munich.
Visit Rwanda’s Target
According to a post on Rwanda Development Boards’s Official X handle, “Goal: US$1B by 2029.” In 2024, its tourism revenue was US 650M.
