NBA to Consider Sponsorships on Team Jerseys?

According to the SportsBusiness Journal, the issue of placing corporate sponsors’ logos and names appearing on NBA team apparel could come down to a vote next month: “The sticky issue will be debated, if not voted on, at the next board of governors meeting in April. It’s a touchy topic, one that involves balancing some of the most influential league constituencies and addressing some thorny questions: Would uniform patches be league or team inventory? Will NBA broadcasters TNT and ESPN/ABC, or even uniform rights holder Adidas, want a piece of the action? Would the league take a PR hit as the first to accept non-endemic ads on uniforms? Of course, the most important issue is also the most basic. ‘The most appropriate question and the answer we’re all waiting for is, ‘What is it worth?’ said Golden State Warriors president and COO Rick Welts, who did the WNBA’s first uniform advertising deal between the Phoenix Mercury and LifeLock in 2009. ‘I am not suggesting this is an easy issue, but I feel like it is inevitable. We just have to agree on value and what it would look like.’ In the case of the Mercury, the biggest logo on its uniform became LifeLock’s across-the-chest jersey patch, while the team logo on the jersey shrank to about the same size as the Adidas logo. The WNBA followed suit last year, with a Boost Mobile ad patch deal on the uniforms of 10 of the league’s 12 teams. A study released last year by Horizon Media calculated that a brand logo across the middle of an NBA team’s jersey occupying 3.5 percent of the TV screen would produce $31.18 million in exposure value. However, the study did not factor in ancillary exposure on highlights and news shows, nor did it account for any online exposure.”