Dive Brief:
- The NBA will become the first league among the big three U.S. team sports, ahead of baseball and football, to add brand logos of sponsors to players’ uniforms.
- The jersey sponsorship program will be a three-year pilot and NBA teams will sell their own sponsorships.
- Sponsorship logos are already part of many other sports leagues, such as European soccer and the U.S. WNBA.
Dive Insight:
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement, “Jersey sponsorships provide deeper engagement with partners looking to build a unique association with our teams and the additional investment will help grow the game in exciting new ways.”
According to Silver the patches are expected to add $100 million in extra revenue for the league.
Kevin Adler, chief engagement officer at sports marketing firm Engage Marketing, told the Wall Street Journal that other leagues will likely take a wait-and-see approach to adding sponsorship patches to their uniforms, waiting to gauge fan reaction to the move. Adler believes teams can charge seven figures for uniform sponsorships and that the move will probably initially result in backlash from fans, with eventual consumer acceptance.
The sponsorship patches will be around 2.5 by 2.5 inches and appear on the front left of the jersey. They will officially become apart of uniforms beginning in the 2017-2018 season.