NBA approves jersey ads
- Thread starter tims4wins
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We've been headed down this road for a long time obviously and I'm sure this will become the new normal soon enough. It still sucks though. I wonder, since teams are responsible for selling their own ads, if any of them will show restraint on this -- at least during the pilot phase. (By that I mean Wyc Grousbeck)
Looking at a list of EPL sponsorship deals, unsurprisingly the premier teams receive princely sums while the lower class teams' revenues are negligible. With the teams negotiating their own sponsorship I suspect the NBA's curve will look similar to the EPL, if not as drastic (i.e. the most lucrative deal, probably the Lakers, will not be worth 53 times as much as the cheapest, due to many factors including the advertising patch only taking up a small amount of real estate on the jersey itself). Still, this raises the question of revenue sharing -- are jersey sponsorships fair game, like TV broadcast deals? With the salary cap due to rise, I have to think they will be, but clearly there is a lot to be worked out.
This is just one step down a slippery slope. I have faith that NBA jerseys will not look like Finnish Hockey League jerseys anytime soon, but this is almost certainly a point of no return. Which, like I said, sucks.
Looking at a list of EPL sponsorship deals, unsurprisingly the premier teams receive princely sums while the lower class teams' revenues are negligible. With the teams negotiating their own sponsorship I suspect the NBA's curve will look similar to the EPL, if not as drastic (i.e. the most lucrative deal, probably the Lakers, will not be worth 53 times as much as the cheapest, due to many factors including the advertising patch only taking up a small amount of real estate on the jersey itself). Still, this raises the question of revenue sharing -- are jersey sponsorships fair game, like TV broadcast deals? With the salary cap due to rise, I have to think they will be, but clearly there is a lot to be worked out.
This is just one step down a slippery slope. I have faith that NBA jerseys will not look like Finnish Hockey League jerseys anytime soon, but this is almost certainly a point of no return. Which, like I said, sucks.
Sorry, I meant the ownership share being split among teams like local cable deals are. You're right though, it's treated as basketball-related income which is split roughly 50-50 between owners and players per the CBA. This article says the average team expects to make about $4.6 million, adding up to $120-180 million leaguewide, or $60-90 million that go to the owners. I'm not positive if this is eligible to be revenue shared if it's basketball-related income or if $60-90 million leaguewide is enough to bother dividing.
Wyc was on Felger and Mazz and said they would want something that complimented the uniform. Preference would be something green and white. I suspect the C's will be one of the 1st to line up a sponsor.
Outside of the NBA the happiest person on this development has to be Gary Bettman. NHL has been waiting for someone to go 1st and won't be far behind.
Could an individual player refuse the logo of a company he doesn't support?
Will Nike, which will have a swoosh on every uniform next season, block a competitor's logo?
Could an individual player, down the road, sell space on his own uniform?
Will Nike, which will have a swoosh on every uniform next season, block a competitor's logo?
Could an individual player, down the road, sell space on his own uniform?
Maybe I've gone corporate but my immediate reaction is that I was much angrier when they started putting sleeves on the jerseys.
I'll be curious to see how much revenue this generates. In light of the new TV deal, things are looking very good for profits so its not as if they really need this. Personally, I think this will take away from the uniforms and for the classics like the Knicks, Lakers and Celtics I'll cringe when I seem them with a sponsor patch.
Not according to what Paul Lukas linked to yesterday.
“Our sweaters are iconic,” Bettman continued. “We certainly won’t be the first [to allow advertising]. You’d have to drag me kicking and screaming. It would take a lot, a lot, a lot of money ... it’s not something we’re considering right now.”
Check post 4, above. And there's no such thing as "too much profit".
But NOW they are, now that the NBA is doing it. Bettman has zero problem being second down this rabbit hole.
I heard that shortly after I posted. IMO, that's some damn fine posturing for future negotiations. AHL has ads on the jersey's. They are unobtrusive. The NHL is foolish if they don't do this. More than any other league they need more ways to increase revenue.
He literally said this in Thursday. I'm not a big Bettman guy but he sounds definitive on this.
Surely the Hornets will be THE first with Jordan Brand since he, well.....owns the team too. The Dolan pic above is simply brilliant. Well played.
So far we know that Leslie Alexander and the Rockets were one of the two teams to vote against the ads. Any rumors on who the other team was?
You don't have to look at Mexican baseball. Even national teams in basketball have sponsors on their jerseys. It does seem very weird on the NBA though, because NBA teams have no tradition wearing a team emblem like European ones do. Here's how Panathinaikos looks, a Greek team which also wears green and has a shamrock as a badge.
Terrible. It's one thing in soccer where there are no commercials but there is no need for this.
There is always a "need" when it comes to revenue. I think they realize that the continual upward drive of TV rights fees can't continue at the rate it's been going due to cord cutters. There also has to come a point when ticket prices get to a point where it affects attendance. They are conditioned to massive revenue increases every year, they are not going to let the gravy train slow down if there are other sources out there.
I'm completely indifferent on this. NBA teams are just companies anyhow. There's nothing holy about NBA jerseys, and it's not like a Chase logo on the back of a Knicks jersey is a bridge too far considering Madison Square Garden has 15,000 Chase logos already.
So it'll likely be the equivalent of this:
Pats have been wearing these in the preseason / training camp for years and it never bothered me.
Pats have been wearing these in the preseason / training camp for years and it never bothered me.
In Japanese baseball, the team names themselves are literally corporate advertising. Lotte, Softbank, Yomiuri, Hanshin etc. It could be worse.
The only thing that surprises me is that American sports are so far behind on this than the rest of the world.
As for how noticeable or obtrusive, it will probably be a slow creep to not anger the traditionalists too much too quickly.
The only thing that surprises me is that American sports are so far behind on this than the rest of the world.
As for how noticeable or obtrusive, it will probably be a slow creep to not anger the traditionalists too much too quickly.
Corporate logos appearing on sports uniforms is not unprecedented, even in major U.S. team sports.
If teams want to put logos on it, that's their choice. And it's my choice to not pay money to buy a jersey that has an ad for a company I don't care about. All we hear is the upside for the revenue, but what about the loss in apparel sales?
In the NBA actual jersey sales account for a fraction of apparel sales. The vast majority of the fan base not being able to pull off a tank top and all. And the other apparel doesn't need to have ads.
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/15269948/an-depth-look-nba-jerseys-full-advertising
Some of them look really good, IMO. I wouldn´t even recognize that it´s a logo/brand hidden behind the number on the Mavs shirt, for example. The best ones are obviously the ones where a logo is implanted into the team logo/name without a huge slogan or company name (like the LA Mattels
) across the chest.
Some of them look really good, IMO. I wouldn´t even recognize that it´s a logo/brand hidden behind the number on the Mavs shirt, for example. The best ones are obviously the ones where a logo is implanted into the team logo/name without a huge slogan or company name (like the LA Mattels
) across the chest.
Vomit. I hate the Sixers were the first to do this. I hate that the teams will end up being Nascar walking billboards before it's all said and done. That said it's inevitable, other than brief nausea I'm over it.
If they stay like this size or like EPL I guess I'm so used to it I don't care that much. EPL logos have stayed broadly the same for a long long time.
I don't know that has much chance, I can only hope I'm wrong. It costs the teams nothing and only makes their teams and fans a walking billboard. So I assume it'll be more and more eventually. If not I can't care too much.
It bothers me a little that the team at the bottom, tanking, paying the floor is the first to jump on it. It's a little classless.
I don't know that has much chance, I can only hope I'm wrong. It costs the teams nothing and only makes their teams and fans a walking billboard. So I assume it'll be more and more eventually. If not I can't care too much.
It bothers me a little that the team at the bottom, tanking, paying the floor is the first to jump on it. It's a little classless.
Denver, and especially Houston, are fantastic. Thanks for posting that.http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/15269948/an-depth-look-nba-jerseys-full-advertising
Some of them look really good, IMO. I wouldn´t even recognize that it´s a logo/brand hidden behind the number on the Mavs shirt, for example. The best ones are obviously the ones where a logo is implanted into the team logo/name without a huge slogan or company name (like the LA Mattels
this sort of stuff doesn't bother me in the slightest. wouldn't care if they go full on soccer with the ads
It looks...well, bad in the grand scheme ... but it could have been worse. I'd reduce the size a bit though, it looks jammed in between the piping.
When you see it in counterpoint to the big swoosh that will be on the other side you won't hardly notice it.
