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Phoenix Mercury (WNBA) to announce jersey sponsorship


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On an entirely different note, that might be the best-looking photo of Diana Taurasi I've ever seen. That long, flowing hair really hides the fact that the girl looks more like a cousin of Odo from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

*Disclaimer: I am not an authoritative expert on stuff...I just do a lot of reading and research and keep in close connect with a bunch of people who are authoritative experts on stuff. 😁

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The minute that a major pro sports team puts a sponsor on a jersey, its the last time I will buy any licensed merchandise from them. I spend more on hats, jerseys, pennants, etc. than I do on tickets. If the NBA, NHL, MLB or NFL wants to kill their multimillion dollar licensed apparel business is the day they will put a sponsor name on their jerseys.

The MLS gear is garbage.

Think if the Twins had Target on their jerseys in place of TWINS. They would KILL their identity. It's not going to happen. A TARGET sleeve patch, however, is more likely.

Everyone loves a roundel.

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Some day there will be a big Target logo on the Vikes, Twins, or Wild. I can feel it now.

Or Best Buy... or 3M... So many choices for who can rape our jerseys... :cry:

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This bothers me because it means the D-League will start this next season (mark my words), and then the NBA will jump on it soon enough. The NBA is sacred to me. I wish I was Oprah rich, then I would pay the NBA to not put advertisements on their jerseys. The WNBA getting sponsors wouldn't bother me if it weren't an obvious precursor to the NBA doing so.

The NBA doesnt even put the Adidas logo on the jersey. It will be awhile before they start puting up third party ads.

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Again, my opinion is very much against the flow because I want to sell ads, can be somewhat of a modernist, love sports marketing, and love the WNBA...

But I was stunned this happened, and honestly hope it continues. I love this league, because without it all the great women's basketball players have to play for is a possible college title, and maybe some time overseas. With the fans and media and all not showing up, and with some...questionable management and marketing, the league is leaking money like a sive. (However that is spelled.) Ads on soccer kits and Euro hockey jerseys have proven quite successful revenue streams, and both Euro hoops and Japanese baseball and soccer actually sell team naming rights (FC Barcelona's basketball team, for example, is currently Regal Barcelona...which sounds odd considering REAL Madrid is also their rival in hoops...so we have "Royal" and we have a bought-out "Regal"...and this is coming from one who prefers Barca...but I digress).

In short, if this is something that could possibly keep this league afloat--because let's face it, Daddy Stern can't forceably keep the WNBA going in its current state forever--I say they all need to follow suit. You can still have originality in design and colors and numbers with an ad on there (again, look at soccer, with stripes, hoops, halves, quarters, and templates), and if this gives the league some more money to keep digging in a foothold and find a niche, bring it.

I'm kinda surprised that LA wasn't the first team to have a sponsorship like this. Second largest media market, last I checked the "minorities" were in or near the majority (and I say that as a marketer, as some of those demographics wouldn't mind ads as much--Hispanic soccer fans, including those of Chivas Guadalajara and USA; those of European and Asian decent, because teams across the pond already doing things like this; etc.), the popularity of AAU teams and the like (Nike/adidas Elite teams and McDonald's All-America Teams, anyone?)...and lest we forget the marketing gem that is Candace Parker.

LifeLock is also an odd fit here. However, I guess this is like the MLS jersey sponsorship...lower budget, lower profile, and less dramatic, until it becomes more normal. We had to slog through Xango and Herbalife before getting Glidden, VW, and Comex, after all. I expect better sponsors to come in time. Maybe they can lure Herbal Essences back...and maybe if there's a successful team they can pull a Barcelona and throw a charity on there instead.

Also, is it just me or does that LifeLock logo look photoshopped....even on the press release pictures? I think it's kind of poor execution of an okay idea.

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It has been said before, but I really think this is the future of all sports uniforms. Think about it. NASCAR, CFL, WNBA, AFL all these leagues (I'm sure there's some more) use sponsors on their jerseys. Eventually, we'll be watching our favorite teams with adds plastered all over. I just can't wait until the Falcons put Coke (or some advertisement) on their jerseys!

And thats when I'll stop buying jerseys. Can't wait.

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I don't mind ads on jerseys, as long as they don't go overboard. Someone already mentioned Euro-hockey jerseys. I think the AHL has the right idea. They have ads just on the helmet and a patch on the jersey.

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Thanks KaTo

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This is a website for sports uniform nerds and there is a lot of acceptance of smaller-scale stuff. The general sports viewing public is going to be just fine with it. It's a done deal. Five years from now the Yankees and a couple other of the "big 4" teams will be holding out.

Predictions:

NFL will, for a while anyway, just have a patch on the shoulder. They will eventually maybe get rid of the "TV" numbers in favor of corporate logos on the shoulder or perhaps a corporate wordmark above the front numbers, but that should be a while. Maybe a small sticker on back of the helmets, but I think the helmets are key enough to their identity that they will remain marketed with team logos.

MLB will go with patches on the right sleeve and stickers on the helmet (like in Japan, as they've been testing for a few years). I think it'll still be a while before "Twins" is replaced by "Dairy Queen", but 15 years from now, that should be the case.

NHL seems most likely to go all the way, but those logo-covered jerseys are key to their recognition. AHL-style patch for 2010-2011 and maybe a wordmark below the numbers. They've certainly pushed it the most of the four with manufacturers logos.

NBA. We're a ways from seeing NBA teams do what the Mercury just did. I think a few years from now, they'll do an AHL-style patch and keep it at that for a while.

As for jersey sales, they'll fall a bit, but you'll find the public to be accepting. Look at all the Nascar jackets, etc. How ever much they fall, the increased revenue will more than make up for it.

Disclaimer: If this comment is about an NBA uniform from 2017-2018 or later, do not constitute a lack of acknowledgement of the corporate logo to mean anything other than "the corporate logo is terrible and makes the uniform significantly worse."

 

BADGERS TWINS VIKINGS TIMBERWOLVES WILD

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OnWis, have you learned nothing from your last run of Chicken Little statements?

On 1/25/2013 at 1:53 PM, 'Atom said:

For all the bird de lis haters I think the bird de lis isnt supposed to be a pelican and a fleur de lis I think its just a fleur de lis with a pelicans head. Thats what it looks like to me. Also the flair around the tip of the beak is just flair that fleur de lis have sometimes source I am from NOLA.

PotD: 10/19/07, 08/25/08, 07/22/10, 08/13/10, 04/15/11, 05/19/11, 01/02/12, and 01/05/12.

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I think that before the big 4 do something on uniforms, we'll see more CGI stuff on the TV broadcasts, which is primarily the reasons for the sponsorship to begin with. They could embed big logos on the fields on the TV broadcasts like they do for the ad boxes behind home plate.

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Phoenix LifeLock? What?

Sorry. I'm against this. The top of the jersey is for the team name only. Let them smear their corporate feces on other parts of the uniform or on the floor.

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OnWis, have you learned nothing from your last run of Chicken Little statements?

I don't even know that they were chicken little. I just firmly believed the other guy would win. They were pessimistic, but I did not think it was the end of the world.

We'll see. It's not like I predicted they'd all look like NASCAR. In fact, I think they'll mainly do what a lot of members here call "tasteful". I personally don't think it can be tasteful at all, but some people are not bothered by the idea of a smaller patch, particularly if it does not stick out like too much of a sore thumb.

The chicken littlest part of my statements this time is the short time frame.--i It could be ten years before it's just a few teams holding out. Who knows. The backlash against the spider man bases was certainly a good sign. And I don't actually think the Life Lock Mercury will be a "gateway drug" since most people a) do not care about the WNBA and b ) understand that the league is on the brink of going under. This is not a scheme to test the waters for the NBA.

However, I do think that the logos on the batting helmets in Japan every year is a test and they have passed. Nobody cared. MLB may start with the helmets (which nobody buys souvenirs of anyway).

Is it possible that the only four pro sports teams in the world that don't use corporate logos will remain true for the forseeable future? Possible. But it's about the only potential revenue source they have yet to tap. If they were smart, they'd all just jam it down our throats right now. Fans love to threaten to boycott. We'd grumble for a while, but after a couple of years we'd be as used to it as we are corporate logos on the boards, the outfield wall, etc. and virtually nobody would stop watching.

The thing I am truely unsure about is college sports. Will they do this? While it's true that they've been about money for quite some time, I have a harder time imagining it in college. Then again, they prominently display manufacturers logos too.

Disclaimer: If this comment is about an NBA uniform from 2017-2018 or later, do not constitute a lack of acknowledgement of the corporate logo to mean anything other than "the corporate logo is terrible and makes the uniform significantly worse."

 

BADGERS TWINS VIKINGS TIMBERWOLVES WILD

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So a company that specialises in identity theft has "stolen" the identity on the front of the jerseys....

Quoted almost verbatim from uniwatch!

"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."

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OnWis, have you learned nothing from your last run of Chicken Little statements?

However, I do think that the logos on the batting helmets in Japan every year is a test and they have passed. Nobody cared. MLB may start with the helmets (which nobody buys souvenirs of anyway).

Nobody buys bases, and yet the Spiderman 2 logo was scrapped. Fans clamered about the Rangers and the two toned helmet and it was removed before spring training. Heck, even part of the reason why the Ballpark in Arlington doesn't have a corporate name is because the fans would boo Ameriquest and the bell that would ring after home runs (including the chant **** the bell after home runs). It's not an American sports theme, and I think you are pushing the time limit too far.

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OnWis, have you learned nothing from your last run of Chicken Little statements?

However, I do think that the logos on the batting helmets in Japan every year is a test and they have passed. Nobody cared. MLB may start with the helmets (which nobody buys souvenirs of anyway).

Nobody buys bases, and yet the Spiderman 2 logo was scrapped. Fans clamered about the Rangers and the two toned helmet and it was removed before spring training. Heck, even part of the reason why the Ballpark in Arlington doesn't have a corporate name is because the fans would boo Ameriquest and the bell that would ring after home runs (including the chant **** the bell after home runs). It's not an American sports theme, and I think you are pushing the time limit too far.

I find this extremely hard to believe, even laughable. If someone stepped up to pay, it'd have a corporate name. I also find it silly that people would be booing after home runs.

"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."

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