FIFA-style sponsorships in NBA jerseys?

[batman1211]

I know it did not really hurt soccer jersey sales, but this would hurt NBA jersey sales. People in low income neighbor-hoods will not use what little money they have to be a bill board for Mcdonalds.

Really?

These can be found in a 'hood near you, and are a bit more expensive than a jersey. LOL .

That being said I REALLY don't want this to happen, but if it does, life will go on.

Although I think your point was ridiculously made, it made me laugh. My point was, will they get an NBA jersey with a huge Best Buy logo on it, or a baseball or football jersey?

If you don't mind logos on your $10000 dollar car, why would you mind a logo on your $200 dollar jersey?

[Saintsfan]

Its nothing to do with TV advertising revenues that networks bring in.

Sure it has.

The amount that television networks are willing to pay is hampered, perhaps severely, by the realities of the sport. With only one commercial break per ninety minutes, their ability to sell ad time is greatly diminished.

That translates into a reduced tv contract, and consequently a restriction on revenue for the teams. A restriction that a basketball or hockey league in a similar start-up position wouldn't have.

It tends to be two ad breaks, and certainly in Europe to an extent, the lack of ad time is made up for, to an extent in pre game and post game.

Also TV contracts in Europe show little to no negative effects of less TV ad time. Soccer sells big. If soccer has a TV problem in the states it's that games don't bring in viewers, rather than the lack of ads.

And again their is no direct link between lack of TV ads and a need for shirt spinsorship. Their are plenty of ads in the coverage of motor sport, and they sold their souls to the ad world years ago. Soccer clubs at levels of the game way below the limits of TV interest have sponsors. It's a cultural thing in Soccer that sponsorship is fine at club level. In the MLS I would imagine it was introduced to allow the MLS to be a bit more competetive with Europe salary wise. It's about maximising any revenue stream going, rather than the inadequacies of another revenue stream.

[dfwabel]

It's a slippery slope. When I first moved to Memphis, the FedExForum script on the court was just lettering, not the FedEx logo with the arrow. Same thing at Staples Center, the L didn't always have the cure that made it look like a staple. Then that was changed, although the FedExForum logo is still black, presumably because the NBA doesn't allow multi-colored arena name logos (yet) and all of FedEx's logos have multiple colors. So I bet it starts with the warm-ups, then a small patch on the jersey, and eventually they'll look like soccer jerseys do today.

See the following which disregard that claim:

ORACLE Arena

Energy Solutions Arena

American Airlines Center

Even before their colors changed the Kings' floor had the same ARCO logo (with the red spark) you would see at your local station

Kind of off topic here, but does anyone know why Chase is allowed to advertise on the MSG floor? Is that the only NBA arena with a floor ad for a company without the building's naming rights? Or is it now officially Madison Square Garden presented by Chase?

It's pretty simple.

They are allowed to because they have a contract with MSG. MSG never intended to sell facility naming rights, but for $40M/year, Chase gets unlimited marketing rights.

From the 2010 story:

In addition to customer benefits, a central part of the relationship is JPMorgan Chase's integration in the transformed Madison Square Garden, including several of the building's new signature elements. The new 7th Avenue entrance to the building will become the Chase Square and feature interactive kiosks, new retail locations and a broadcast area. Inside the Arena the two spectacular new Chase Bridges will be suspended above the floor offering a one-of-a-kind view of the action. The 1879 Club presented by J.P. Morgan will be an exclusive new space that provides event attendees with a casual and intimate environment to relax before or after an event. New Madison Square Garden 7th and 8th Avenue marquees will also feature permanent JPMorgan Chase branding. This first-of-its-kind partnership will establish expansive brand exposure for JPMorgan Chase in New York City and nationwide. JPMorgan Chase will serve as the presenting partner of the New York Knicks, New York Rangers, Radio City Christmas Spectacular National Tour, the Radio City Music Hall Concert Series and the Chicago Theatre. In addition, JPMorgan Chase will become an official partner of the MSG Concert Series, Theater at MSG, and Beacon Theatre. Permanent and digital signage, as well as Chase ATMs, will be located throughout each of the venues. The multi-platform partnership will be fully integrated across MSG's sports, entertainment and media properties.

In fact, this Chase deal allowed MSG to void a previous contract with AMEX.

[walkerws]

With football, you have a slippery slope as well. Do you want to have a logo? Maybe. Now here is where other leagues have helped "fix" patch size.

This is better IMO then NFL Europa's.

But this still isn't as bad as international american football.

With basketball, the European style uniforms wouldn't happen period and I'd hope that the adds wouldn't be any larger than the anniversary patches teams wear now. If the team names were tremoved for the local/national sponsors, that's too much. I think it's crap in the lower leagues. The D-League looks better wven having hte tfront sponsor under the numbers.

[spartacat_12]

The difference between soccer and the big North American sports is that before ads were introduced most soccer jerseys had a small patch on the chest and the rest of it was blank. This left a much bigger space for sponsors and made it less strange for the fans. The only way to not make the jerseys look too busy in basketball is by replacing the team's wordmark with the sponsor. Fans would most likely just keep buying the old jerseys. There are too many looks in North American sports that are considered "untouchable" (Lakers, Celtics, Knicks, Yankees, Packers, etc.) for jersey ads to be feasible. I'm fine with ads on practice or warm-up jerseys, and a few on the playing surface, just leave the regular uniforms alone. Teams should focus on building their own brands rather than latching on to another company's.

[Red&Blue Crew]

I know it did not really hurt soccer jersey sales, but this would hurt NBA jersey sales. People in low income neighbor-hoods will not use what little money they have to be a bill board for Mcdonalds.

Really?

These can be found in a 'hood near you, and are a bit more expensive than a jersey. LOL .

That being said I REALLY don't want this to happen, but if it does, life will go on.

Although I think your point was ridiculously made, it made me laugh. My point was, will they get an NBA jersey with a huge Best Buy logo on it, or a baseball or football jersey?

I know this is kind of Apples/Oranges but Nascar jackets are actually popular sellers (at around $100) despite the fact that Nascar fans have the lowest median income of any professional sport.

Again, here's to hoping this doesn't go down,

But it ain't gonna stop many people from buying the jersey's

[guest23]

The difference between soccer and the big North American sports is that before ads were introduced most soccer jerseys had a small patch on the chest and the rest of it was blank. This left a much bigger space for sponsors and made it less strange for the fans. The only way to not make the jerseys look too busy in basketball is by replacing the team's wordmark with the sponsor. Fans would most likely just keep buying the old jerseys. There are too many looks in North American sports that are considered "untouchable" (Lakers, Celtics, Knicks, Yankees, Packers, etc.) for jersey ads to be feasible. I'm fine with ads on practice or warm-up jerseys, and a few on the playing surface, just leave the regular uniforms alone. Teams should focus on building their own brands rather than latching on to another company's.

I guess I'm now old enough and seen enough business deals where things that were "never going to happen" or were "untouchable" inevitably change in the pursuit of the almighty dollar. After all pro sports and college to a large degree now are all about business and profit. So if the amount of revenue gained from ads is greater than the revenue lost from lost fans a smart business decision was made.