Moab’s new two-year pact with Jeep brings $250,000 in cash and event commitments under council-approved safeguards.
The Moab City Council voted 4-0 on Tuesday to make Jeep the “Official 4WD of Moab,” closing a two-year sponsorship deal with FCA US LLC that had only one bidder. Jeep was the sole company to answer the city’s vehicle-sponsorship request for proposals.
The agreement pays Moab $125,000 a year, loans the city five Jeep vehicles, and commits the brand to trail work and local events. City Manager Michael Black pitched it as a two-year pilot, not a permanent arrangement.
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FCA sends Moab $125,000 in unrestricted funds annually, with the first payment due within 45 days of the deal taking effect, for a total of $250,000 across the term. The city also gets five loaned Jeep vehicles. Staff valued the loan at roughly $200,000 over two years in avoided lease, purchase and insurance costs.
Black said the loaned fleet frees Moab to sell several vehicles it already owns, including retired police cruisers. He estimated that could bring another $50,000 to $75,000 back into the vehicle fund at auction. The sponsorship value runs well past the headline payment.
Jeep also pledges what it calls a $10 million “Media Value Support Commitment” over the two years. The contract only asks FCA to make “commercially reasonable efforts” toward that number, and it gives the company full control over where and how the ads run. Black told the council that figure is roughly five times the Moab Office of Tourism’s yearly advertising budget.
In exchange, Jeep gets exclusivity as no competing automaker, dealer or parts brand can sponsor the city or its covered events. FCA also gets a worldwide license to use Moab’s name and event footage in its own marketing, plus four Jeep-exclusive emails to a city marketing list that staff admitted does not really exist yet.
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Jeep commits to at least two trail-maintenance or preservation projects on Moab-area trails and sponsorship of two community events a year, alongside four social-media posts annually and two produced promotional videos about the city.
For the 2027 Easter Jeep Safari, the brand plans to work with Red Rock 4-Wheelers and Tread Lightly! on a project focused on the Chicken Corners trail corridor, in coordination with public-land managers.
Staff floated the Red Rock Arts Festival as one sponsored event and a celebration of Moab’s 125th anniversary of incorporation in 2027 as the other. Mayor Joette Langianese wants that second one pushed to winter rather than the already-crowded spring. Jeep has leaned on Moab’s identity before, offering a Moab 392 package on the Wrangler Rubicon 392 and launching the all-electric Recon in a Moab trim.
Councilmember Miles Loftin pushed for a framework letting the council see Jeep marketing before it goes “literally international.” He’s worried residents fear the town will “get lost in this.” The agreement gives the city manager the right to pre-approve any use of Moab’s name in Jeep marketing, with approval assumed if the city does not object within 10 days.
Councilmember Colin Topper said the two-year term keeps it in Jeep’s interest to show “the soul of Moab” rather than sell it. Staffer Kelley McInerney will administer the contract day to day. Black proposed a part-time hire at the Moab Arts and Recreation Center, under $50,000 a year, paid from sponsorship proceeds to cover the added workload.
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Source:
Jeep via Moab Sun News
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