• About Us
    • New York
  • Work
  • Capabilities
  • Careers
  • Technology
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
    • New York
  • Work
  • Capabilities
  • Careers
  • Technology
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
April 27, 2016

NBA Adds Advertising To Jerseys

Posted by Vanessa Schluter

Outside of European soccer jerseys, golf attire, and NASCAR everything, sponsor ads are not typically seen on uniforms. While the sports experience itself is overflowing with advertising and sponsorships, the team uniforms are kept ad-free. That is until recently when the NBA became the first of the four major U.S. sports leagues to allow ads on regular game-day jerseys. Dirk will now look like this dribbling down the court.

Say whaaaaat?

Last week, the board of governors announced a three-year pilot program to allow teams to sell corporate logos on their jerseys. Teams can now start pitching companies on buying a fairly small, 2.5-inch-by-2.5-inch, space on game-day jerseys for the 2017-18 season. This will also be the first season that Nike will produce the NBA’s uniforms after taking over from Adidas. While the Adidas logo was never featured on the uniforms, it is expected that the Nike swoosh will appear on every jersey outside of the Charlotte Hornets, who will likely have the logo of the Nike-owned subsidiary brand Jordan because the team is owned by Michael Jordan. Adam Silver, NBA commissioner, suggested that the program has been conservatively calculated to be worth about $100 million a year.

Where will this money go?

It will be considered basketball-related income, which is factored into the salary cap, and split among the players. However, in order to address the variation in market size between teams and cities, the league is proposing that only 50% of the money be kept by the teams and the other 50% go into a revenue-sharing pot.

So what’s the problem?

I think you mean problems; there are many potential issues that could arise from this program.

The first being with the teams themselves. There is already hesitancy to 1) have ads on their uniforms and 2) share their profits with other teams. The Houston Rockets were one of the teams to vote against the program and have already expressed their concern of ads potentially diluting their brand and putting additional profits in the revenue pool.

Secondly, what happens when a company who buys the patch on the team uniform is a direct competitor of a company that already endorses a player on that same team? Will that be allowed? How will it be resolved? This conflict of interest does not yet have a clear solution.

The NBA will also have to keep their TV partners in mind, ESPN and Tuner, as they will have to been in an agreement with every sponsor that comes on board and ultimately the percentage of profits that they will be keeping.

Lastly, the fans are not exactly fans. There has already been some backlash from fans who want to see the jerseys remain ad-free. NBA commissioner assured everyone that, “there’s a reason this is a pilot program,” and that they will, “listen very closely to our fans.” In the meantime, as a compromise, jerseys sold to fans will not include the corporate logo, although teams will have the option of selling versions that do.

There’s no doubt that this tiny patch will cause many problems but it may actually be a great way for brands to get in front of their audience as the media landscape is evolving. People are spending less and less time watching live TV, outside of sporting events, and thus, fewer commercials. This sponsorship will provide an opportunity for companies to connect directly with their consumers.

 

Lebron

Advertisingadvertising factsbasketballdisplaynba
Previous
Next

Latest White Papers

  • Shifting Plans for 2020 & Beyond
  • Game On: How Brands Can Log Into A Diverse Multi-Billion Dollar Industry
  • What CCPA Means For Brands
  • How Google is Improving Consumer Data Privacy
  • Ways to Prepare for the Cookieless Future
  • See all White Papers

Featured Posts

  • Ad Age Names PMG #1 Best Place to Work in 2021
  • MediaPost Names PMG Independent Agency of the Year
  • PMG Client Portfolio Trends During Amazon Prime Day 2020
  • A Closer Look at the Congressional Big Tech Market Power Report
  • What to Know About Reddit

Categories

  • Consumer Insights
  • Content
  • Creative Design
  • Data Analytics
  • Development
  • Digital TV & Video
  • Ecommerce
  • Industry News
  • Local
  • Mobile
  • Paid Search
  • PMG Culture
  • Programmatic & Display
  • SEO
  • Social Media
  • Structured Data
Fort Worth

2845 West 7th Street
Fort Worth, TX 76107

Dallas

3102 Oak Lawn Avenue
Suite 650
Dallas, TX 75219

Austin

823 Congress Avenue
Suite 800
Austin, TX 78701

London

33 Broadwick Street
London
W1F 0DQ

New York

120 East 23rd Street
New York, NY 10010

Get in touch

(817) 420 9970
info@pmg.com

Subscribe to the PMG Newsletter
© 2021 PMG Worldwide, LLC, All Rights Reserved
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
 Tweet
 Share
 Tweet
 Share
 Tweet
 Share
 LinkedIn
We and our partners use cookies to personalize content, analyze traffic, and deliver ads. By using our website, you agree to the use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.