009: Ads on Jerseys: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Why ads on jerseys are a bad idea for the NBA.
Late last season the NBA’s Board of Governors approved a three-year trial program which will allow teams to sell ad space on their jerseys. The ads will be placed on 2 1/2-inch by 2 1/2-inch patches that will be located on the upper-left side of the jersey. The deal allows teams to sell one corporate logo on their jersey starting in the 2017–2018 season which also coincides with the NBA’s deal with Nike to be the League’s official uniform supplier.
We knew this day was coming. The writing has been on the wall pretty much from the day Adam Silver took office. One of the more telling signs was when the NBA stated that they are going to allow Nike to display its logo on the front of the jerseys once they become the official supplier in 2017. This would be a first for the NBA as the current supplier, Adidas, does not have its logo on the jerseys. The NBA was just paving the way.
Adam Silver hasn’t been shy about his desire for these ads either. He’s even gone as far as calling it the “manifest destiny” of sports. I mean here we are not even 3 years into his reign as commissioner and ads are a reality.
The Philadelphia 76ers have placed themselves at the forefront of this new frontier. Just before the draft lottery this last season they unveiled what their jerseys will look like in a partnership with StubHub.
The deal with StubHub was reportedly for 3 years at $5 million per year.
The Golden State Warriors are looking for deals in the range of $15 to $20 million. Their argument is that they have the stars (Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green) and tons of nationally broadcasted games (not to mention their large local market), which means tons of eyeballs will be on their team. We will see if anyone takes them up on their offer.
The only corporations that are currently disallowed from partaking in the program are those in the gambling, alcohol, and political industries.
There are arguments on both sides as to why they should or shouldn’t allow corporate ads to be displayed on the front of our favorite players’ jerseys. To break it down for you we’ll take a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of this issue.
But First a Little History
A good question to ask is, how did we get to this point? Ads have been commonplace in other sports for decades, especially in other countries. That’s what makes this so groundbreaking — the NBA is the first major sport in America that will allow these types of ads.
If you’re a soccer fan then you know ads on jerseys are nothing new — in fact sponsored jerseys date as far back as the 1950s. With soccer though, it’s easier to see why leagues would be more willing to consider this as a viable way to monetize. Soccer matches are made up of two 45-minute halves with a running clock, which means there are no timeouts. And no timeouts mean no commercial breaks. I always thought the limited commercial breaks were the reason it was so commonplace in soccer.
Well apparently that’s not the case, because the NBA has plenty of commercial breaks — so many that you’d think they wouldn’t need to open their jerseys up for ad space. But I guess they do. The Board of Governors approved it, so there must be some good in all of this.
Let’s see if we can find it.
The Good
As a fan of the game it’s difficult to find where the good in this might be. It seems as if there are two camps amongst the fans:
- Those that dislike the idea of ads on jerseys
- Those that are indifferent to the idea of ads on jerseys
And that’s it. You’ll be hard pressed to find anyone that’s actually excited about this. Yeah man! I’m soo pumped StubHub is our sponsor!
It’s something you’re either going to have to put up with or something you’ll just shrug your shoulders at. The only way I see the ads not working out is if the fans complain about it. Kinda like we did with the sleeved jerseys. But even then, that didn’t stop them from being rolled out. Either way, we’ll have to wait a couple of years to find out.
$$$
We all know this move is ultimately about the money (it always is). Plain and simple it’s about the NBA increasing its revenues. But what about the fans? Is there anything good in it for us?
Possibly.
If you’re dead set against this, here’s a little bit of good news for you: a portion of the money generated from these deals will go towards raising the salary cap. Make no mistake it won’t be like the recent TV deal the NBA signed, which resulted in every free agent getting paid this summer (well almost everyone). The money won’t be that much, but it could possibly be the difference in whether or not your team can sign back its key role player — you know, the one who could help win you a championship.
I guess.
Could They Become Collector’s Items?
Another way I can see this maybe turning into something good is if the ads somehow added to the uniqueness of a jersey. Like, could these jerseys turn into collector’s items?
The NBA has said that the jerseys sold to fans will not include the sponsor’s logo on them, but 76ers CEO Scott O’Neil said the team plans to sell their jerseys with the StubHub logo on it at the team store. He thinks young Sixer fans will want the same jersey — corporate sponsor and all — that the players wear.
Who knows, maybe 15 years from now a Ben Simmons StubHub jersey will be a hot item and sell for a lot of money.
Do you think that’s possible?
The Bad
Here are the more practical implications that allowing ads on jerseys will have. Let me tell you, it would be smart for some teams to forgo these ads altogether. The Lakers? They don’t need the money. The Knicks and Bulls probably don’t either. Heck, even the Spurs seem to be too good of a franchise to stoop this low.
Going even further, let’s see why this is a bad idea for the other teams as well.
It Devalues the Team’s Brand
Let’s not forget that NBA teams are actual brands themselves and sharing jersey space with another brand devalues their own. Sure, they may be getting a few million to display another business’ logo, but at what cost? It’s hard not to argue that they’re hurting their brand.
Take the Portland Timbers of the MLS for example. Check out their jerseys:
You mean the Alaska Timbers? Uhh, no…they’re the Portland Timbers. A team that happens to have a sponsorship deal with Alaska Airlines. They must be getting paid pretty good for the jersey to only say Alaska on it.
Notice their logo in the corner of the jersey? How cool would their jerseys be if they displayed that on the front?
How long do you think it’ll be before the team logo and the sponsor logo switch spots on the NBA jerseys?
Something to think about.
Possible Player Conflicts
The NBA offers protected status to their official sponsors when it comes to the ads. This means teams aren’t allowed to make a deal with a competitor of someone the NBA does business with. So corporations like ESPN, ABC, Turner, Spalding, and Tissot don’t have to worry about their rivals becoming a sponsor of an NBA team.
Individual player sponsorships on the other hand aren’t protected. This could potentially create a conflict of interest with the players.
For example, say Powerade wanted to make a deal with the Chicago Bulls. Every Bulls player would have to wear a Powerade patch on their jerseys. But what about Dwyane Wade, who’s sponsored by Gatorade, would he have to wear the patch?
Or what if Pepsi wanted to sponsor the Cleveland Cavaliers? That means LeBron James would be forced to wear a Pepsi logo on his jersey even though he has a deal with Coca-Cola.
Actually that’s a genius idea. It’s a move these corporations wouldn’t hesitate to make. It makes sense that if you are a competing brand with one of the sponsors of a big name player, to go after that player’s team.
The more I think about it, the more I can see this scenario playing out.
The Ugly
We’ve only seen one ad on a jersey so far, and that was with the 76ers. I’ll admit that it didn’t look horrible, but it could definitely do without the StubHub patch. Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should do something.
You know there’s going to be that one team who picks a sponsor that doesn’t make any sense. Here are a couple scenarios in which it could get ugly.
Contrasting Styles
I wonder how teams will decide who they’ll allow on their jerseys? Will they only accept offers from corporations that share the same — or at least a complimentary — color scheme? Or will they go with the highest bidder, regardless of what their logo may look like?
I can just imagine a team like the Kings doing a deal with like, Burger King or something (King/Kings?). Their logo would look horrendous on a Kings jersey. Purple and white with a splash of the primary colors. Red, yellow, and blue would just not look good.
Or what about Microsoft? Do you think Steve Ballmer will put their logo on the Clippers’ Jersey? Microsoft’s logo wouldn’t look good on any team’s uniform, that is unless they keep it to a single color. But still…
I told you it could get ugly.
Or what about ugly logos in general? Forget the colors, because there are no amount of colors that can fix a poorly designed logo. Some teams have bad logos already, so why compound it with another poorly designed mark?
Whether we like it or not, ads on jerseys are coming. I think it’s a bad idea, and not just from the “it ruins the purity of the game,” argument (which it does), but for the other reasons I’ve laid out.
The only way we’ll escape this form of advertising is if one team says, No way, we value our brand too much. And by doing so they happen to stand out. They become a premium NBA brand. So much so that other franchises will be asking themselves if they made a mistake.
The only question now is, who will that franchise be?
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Originally published at roundballsupply.co.
