In a move that caught the American sports landscape by storm, National Basketball Association Commissioner Adam Silver recently announced what had long been rumored: NBA jerseys will soon have space for advertisements. It will be the first time that one of the four major American sports leagues (the NBA, the National Football League, Major League Baseball, and the National Hockey League) will feature advertisers on player jerseys.
Old hat in the PBA
Though it is seems largely unprecedented in the US, the Filipino sports fan has been familiar with jersey advertising for over four decades. Since the inception of the Philippine Basketball Association, it has been companies (not cities or team names) that have occupied prime advertising realty on the chests of players. This came about largely because all of the teams in the PBA have called Metro Manila as home, with teams not having geographical affiliations.
Companies such as San Miguel Beer, Talk ‘N Text, Alaska Milk, Rain or Shine, and other corporations have been the driving forces behind the PBA, and even sub-brands have now been placing their logos on the jerseys of PBA players. In recent years, even colleges and universities participating in the University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) have begun to advertise on the jerseys of athletes. From telecoms companies to fastfood providers to hardware stores, several advertisers have placed their names on some of the top local universities.
It started in football/soccer
European football has long had jersey advertisements. Image courtesy of eurosport.co.uk.
In world football (or soccer), of course, this has also been the norm since 1973. That was when Eintracht Braunschweig of the German Bundesliga signed a deal with Jagermeister to display its logo on the front of their shirts. Each major football club has eventually gone on to sign their own respective deals even as the cost for companies to do so has increased dramatically. Until 2011, FC Barcelona of the Spanish Primera Liga had refused sponsors in favor of wearing the UNICEF logo on their shirts while donating 1.5 million Euros to the charity annually.
Major League Soccer (MLS) copied this strategy, as has the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). The difference between these two examples compared to the NBA is that both leagues have largely been losing money while the NBA is still a thriving entity.
Embracing the Swoosh
It is perhaps no coincidence that when Silver made his announcement, people realized that the advertising will come at the same time that the NBA’s exclusive merchandise contract with adidas ends and a new one, with Nike, begins. Nike, after all, has been the leading proponent of basketball since its partnership with Michael Jordan first bore fruit in 1985. Most of the NBA’s biggest stars wear the Swoosh, and even Silver admitted that adidas is “at root a soccer company” while “basketball is the soul of Nike.”
Something that may seem as inconsequential as adding sleeves to jerseys a few years ago was seen by some as the NBA getting ready for this advertising move. After all, they reasoned, sleeves add more space for ads to be placed. At this year’s NBA All-Star Game in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, one of the first instances of jersey advertisements was for all to see in the form of a Kia logo on the jerseys of both the East and West All-Stars.
Opening the advertising floodgates
So what’s the big deal anyway? For we who grew up watching the PBA, another company logo on a jersey isn’t news anymore. Many companies have inter-office basketball leagues that carry the names and logos of their individual departments, why then is this such big news?
Mainly, it is because it represents a major shift in the thinking of major American sports leagues. Imagine the possibilities once it pushes through though. The iconic Los Angeles Lakers purple and gold jersey adorned with the Apple logo instead of the stylized “LAKERS.” How about the Chicago Bulls’ red and black jersey but replace the bold “BULLS” with the golden arches of McDonald’s instead? Loving your Stephen Curry Golden State Warriors jersey? Think it would be just as cool if a Tide logo was in the middle of it instead of that Golden Gate Bridge?
By allowing advertising on their jerseys, the NBA is joining the rest of the world, and possibly opening the floodgates if the even richer NFL and MLB follow suit. Every professional sports league is always looking for new revenue streams and finally, the NBA admits that it needs to embrace this. Allow NBA Commissioner Silver to explain himself in the following video:
Despite several arguments against it, jerseys ads are coming to the NBA. The times are a’ changin’.
Main image courtesy of NBA.com.
