WNBA goes with uniform sponsors

[walkerws]

Watching the LA Sparks and Phoenix Mercury game and it looks like the girls have decided to go MLS and have picked up McDonalds as a uniform sponsor. The McDonalds logo appears as a huge sticker on the court and in a 2X2 inch circle at the base of the front neck area of the jesrey. At first I thought that LA Added a basketball toe the Los Angeles on the front of their away jerseys.

[DallasSports]

...People watch WNBA?

[DG_ThenNowForever]

...People watch WNBA?

People care enough about uniform minutiae to chat about it on a message board?

Careful about putting down the tastes and preferences of others. And if you're going to do it, make sure you come up with comments that are at least original and not boring.

[Lee.]

Go easy on him, he's only 17 posts in.

[ShinyHubCaps]

Go easy on him, he's only 17 posts in.

To be fair, he never said that he's surprised that people like the WNBA, but rather implied that he didn't know people watch it, which is somewhat in line with their attendance, but not entirely exact. I don't see the offense in what he said.

Anyway, back on topic. I am a little surprised by this because it is an affiliate of the league that wouldn't even put the logo creep on the authentic adidas jerseys, but as any sports team will tell you, revenue is revenue, and you do need it.

Brand affiliation could always be better, like the U.S. Cellular Call to the Bullpen. I kinda like that. Some of the arena names bother me, but a lot of them make sense and aren't obtrusive. It is a part of sports, and we need to accept that. However, they should leave it off of the jerseys, like the NBA has done so well.

Then again, this:

Isn't quite as bad as this:

That bottom one just screams "Milwaukee Wave," doesn't it? (Their new jerseys have a big pic of the Roadrunner on them, so it gets even worse still.)

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Go easy on him, he's only 17 posts in.

To be fair, he never said that he's surprised that people like the WNBA, but rather implied that he didn't know people watch it, which is somewhat in line with their attendance, but not entirely exact. I don't see the offense in what he said.

Even if you want to be that generous with the intention of the comment, it wasn't necessary anyway.

And to make this on topic -- if the WNBA needs to do this to be financially solvent, then good for them. It doesn't look all that aesthetically pleasing, but could certainly look a lot worse.

[JQK]

Go easy on him, he's only 17 posts in.

To be fair, he never said that he's surprised that people like the WNBA, but rather implied that he didn't know people watch it, which is somewhat in line with their attendance, but not entirely exact. I don't see the offense in what he said.

Even if you want to be that generous with the intention of the comment, it wasn't necessary anyway.

And to make this on topic -- if the WNBA needs to do this to be financially solvent, then good for them. It doesn't look all that aesthetically pleasing, but could certainly look a lot worse.

God, just shutup.

If the WNBA makes uniform changes, and no one's there to watch it, does it really matter?

Yes, because if you don't, you're sexist, and will be lynched by meaty looking women.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Insults aren't necessary to make points. And anyway, your premise is wrong. There are plenty of people who do watch the WNBA: thousands of people in the arenas and thousands more on television. Is it the highest watched programming on television? Not by a long shot. But television ratings aren't a necessary factor in what can and can't be discussed on this board. For the "Sports Logos" section of "Chris Creamer's Sports Logos Community," only some change or some quirk in sports uniforms need be present in order to prompt conversation. Just because you (the collective you) don't care about a league doesn't mean than no one else does. And no one called anyone sexist; that's your baggage.

And to wrench this back on topic (and perhaps the peanut gallery can keep its comments to themselves -- maybe create a "WNBA SUX IS FOR LOSERS" thread in the Lounge?) I still don't have a problem with the McDonald's logo. I don't think the WNBA can be considered a success on the level of the NBA or MLB, but as an Arena League or NLL-level brand, it seems to be doing okay. Those leagues have sponsor logos on their uniforms, don't they? And as ShinyHubcaps showed, the WNBA sponsor logos are relatively small.

I will say, however, the patterned panels on the WNBA uniforms continue to be brilliant. See?

[walkerws]

Whatr I find interesting is that the women's college teams that are adidas don't have that type of uni. Although I dislike the templates, they are also unique which is good in this case. The NDBL has an ok template, but it's a template. I can't think with all teh different colors that a template is so much cheaper than giving teams a unique look. This really bothers me with Arena Football because of Russell's lack of creativity in the number fonts and everything. It's sad that the most unique team(LA) is only so because they got their old Reebok number font back.

[dfwabel]

Whatr I find interesting is that the women's college teams that are adidas don't have that type of uni. Although I dislike the templates, they are also unique which is good in this case. The NDBL has an ok template, but it's a template. I can't think with all teh different colors that a template is so much cheaper than giving teams a unique look. This really bothers me with Arena Football because of Russell's lack of creativity in the number fonts and everything. It's sad that the most unique team(LA) is only so because they got their old Reebok number font back.

WNBA players will wear McDonald?s golden arches on their jerseys for each team?s season opener as part of a marketing alliance between the women?s pro basketball league and the fast food giant this season.

McDonald?s is posting up as presenting partner of the WNBA tip-off games on May 17 to push McDonalod's new Southern Style Chicken Biscuit and Sandwich. In addition to the season openers, the red-and-yellow logo will be on jerseys during two national telecasts: the Sacramento Monarchs-Seattle Storm May 20 match-up on ESPN and the May 24 San Antonio Silver Spurs-Seattle Storm contest on ABC.

[DEAD!]

So, what about the name below the numbers on the back? I like the number font for the Mystics.

[slapshot]

The WNBA needs to do things like this to survive. If by allowing the McDonald's logo adds revenue that can keep the league afloat, why not do it?

It's still a young league that doesn't have "tradition" to rely on like the NBA. And it's not like they're sticking the logo on classic uniforms. Every team got a big redesign last year, and at this point, it's not like the logo patch is ruining the asthetics.

[tohasbo]

From what I remember, this was only for the season opener games...

[Dnice]

Those panels are bothersome just as much as the shoulders years ago.

[AJM]

The arena football league has been using uni sponsor patches for a while now so its not that suprising to see this in terms of american sports...its pretty much the norm in soccer so I'm not even factoring in the MLS...hopefully it wont spread beyond the AFL and the WNBA.

[Arts11]

wow, those Sparks jerseys are ugly

[TruColor]

What was that stat I heard a while back? The WNBA's TV ratings (in the U.S.) were something like TRIPLE the ratings for the NHL.

[mania]

What was that stat I heard a while back? The WNBA's TV ratings (in the U.S.) were something like TRIPLE the ratings for the NHL.

I'd be willing to bet Arena Football beats them both.

[Lee.]

What was that stat I heard a while back? The WNBA's TV ratings (in the U.S.) were something like TRIPLE the ratings for the NHL.

I'd be willing to bet Arena Football beats them both.

That's not the point.

[Coast2CoastAM2006]

What was that stat I heard a while back? The WNBA's TV ratings (in the U.S.) were something like TRIPLE the ratings for the NHL.

I'd be willing to bet Arena Football beats them both.

watching grass grow and the paint dry beats all 3.