I was going to save this one for a mention in tomorrow's "Weekly Sporties" but discovered I just had too much to say about the topic, so it's getting its own post...
During the week the NBA had its annual meetings where among the other business such as expanding replay the league announced individual teams would be allowed to sell advertising on their jerseys, potentially as soon as next season. These ads will be in the form a two-inch by two-inch patch on the upper corners of the jerseys, across from the NBA logos. In some respects, this announcement had to be considered inevitable. While the "Big 4" of American sports (Major League Baseball, the NHL, NFL and NBA) had thus far been willing to leave the jerseys alone, pretty much every thing else concerning professional sports in America was already for sale and to the point where no one notices it anymore. When stadiums started selling naming rights everyone thought that was somehow bad for the game but now people watch the NBA Finals presented by KIA, featuring the Sprint halftime show and coming to you live from American Airlines Arena without even blink an eye. Anyone who thought that jerseys would somehow remain above the fray was at best guilty of wishful thinking and at worst being extremely naive. But even though I am a realist concerning the situation, that doesn't mean I have to like it.
First off, I think advertising on jerseys makes the players look unprofessional. Yes, the patches are starting out small, but I think we all know that within a few years, once the owners find out how much money they can make, the logos will be covering the entire front of these jerseys. Normally being sponsored by a local business is something most teams stop doing once they get above the little or bar league level. It also doesn't help that the current leagues which allow full-sized ads on the front of their jerseys are truly niche leagues such as the WNBA and Major League Soccer. You would expect the Big 4 to be above this kind of thing. (I know the Premier League also has company sponsored jerseys and they are the most popular professional sports league in the world but they get credibility points deducted for 1. playing soccer and 2. being European.) But the main reason this bothers me so much is that for years sports fans have been told we are only rooting for the laundry, as the names on the back of the jerseys constantly change due to a lack of loyalty from either management or the players themselves. Well, now they want to start messing with the laundry and I just can't get behind that idea.
It is entirely possible that I am simply holding on to an idea whose time has passed. After all, there are sports such as NASCAR and professional golf which are built almost entirely on sponsorship deals. Some racecar drivers aren't even identifiable to causal fans unless they are wearing a shirt matching the brand logo on their hoods and professional golfers make far more money from sponsorships than they do from winning golf tournaments. Why shouldn't professional basketball players or teams be allowed to get in on that? You could make the case that there already are advertisements on pro jerseys, they just happen to be for the people who make them. Every iconic sports picture from the NBA in the last 20 years has either a Nike, Reebok or Adidas logo in there somewhere, so what is the difference between that and some insurance company who wants to be associated with a sports team? Besides, maybe this could be fun, figuring out which teams will be sponsored by which companies. (Already Twitter is buzzing with jokes about the Sacramento Kings being sponsored by U-Haul.) On top of all that, having your team sponsored by a great company while your rival is wearing the logo of some random business no one has ever heard of is just another thing sports fans can fight over.
Obviously teams like the Knicks, Heat and Lakers are going to command the most money for their jersey space. This makes me wonder if this revenue is going to somehow into a collective pool or is this just another case of the rich getting richer? Also, I am curious as to how this money will be allowed to be spent. It is strictly for private profit or can it be applied to league business? The NBA is already facing a competitive balance issue, the last thing they need are big-market teams raking in enough advertising money from corporations that they don't need to worry about paying the luxury tax. I mean, wasn't that the point of last seasons luxury tax? If you're going to allow individual teams to keep this money you may as well contract a few teams and abolish the salary cap. And what about the companies these billionaire owners run? Can they sponsor the team as well, which could lead to some creative accounting procedures? Not to mention, there is the chance for tremendous embarrassment if you are sponsored by a company which has a scandal. Did we learn nothing of the various stadium deals which have gone poorly in the past? Whether it was CMGI here in Foxboro, Enron in Houston or CitiBank with the Mets, there are plenty of examples in which being associated with a business has resulted in more problems than the checks they have sent your way may be worth. For example, given their current scandal concerning money laundering, would you want an HSBC logo on your favorite team's jersey right about now?
According to reports not a single owner was against this idea, which I should have expected. There has been an influx of new ownership in the NBA over the past few years and most of these guys aren't from the city where the team plays and as such they don't really care about them, they are more concerned with being able to say they own a professional franchise and getting a return on their investment. Old-school owners would care about making sure the jersey still represents the old days well, new-school owners probably already had a spreadsheet telling them the most profitable companies to contact about sponsorship. If this turns out be a money-making idea for the NBA (and there is no reason to think it won't), you won't have to wait long to see it show up in the other leagues. We like to say sports are full of copycats, but that is especially true when it is concerns ways to make money. You know the cash-strapped NHL will be in favor and the NFL is never going to turn down the chance to make any money, especially when they can probably make the most. The lone holdout appears to be baseball, where old-school Commissioner Bud Selig says he wouldn't be in favor of ads on uniforms. This leaves me in the unusual position of agreeing with Bud Selig. I guess when you are fighting a losing battle you'll take any help you can get. Which reminds me, if any company out there wanted to sponsor my crusade, I have no such qualms about logos on this blog...
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