NBA To Consider Uniform Sponsorship At April Meeting
According to John Lombardo and Terry Lefton of SportsBusiness Journal, the NBA is set to consider and possibly vote on whether to allow ads on league uniforms. A report by Horizon Media last year predicted that NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB teams representing the top 20 markets could generate over $370 million in advertising value if they sold corporate sponsorships on their jerseys.
“Without a doubt, there’s already interest,” Mark Tatum, NBA executive vice president of global marketing partnerships told SBJ. “It’s certainly not automatic, but if we do it, it would be a big deal, so we are spending a lot of time evaluating.”
Jersey sponsorship has been a hot topic for the league, and considered by many to be likely eventuality, ever since the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury became the first WNBA team to sell ad space on its uniform in 2009. While a common practice in other sports leagues throughout the world, some have called it the last frontier of sports branding for the "Big 4" North American sports leagues.
According to Horizon's study, if the league does approve jersey sponsorship the L.A. Lakers would have the highest value at $4,059,744 per season with the New York Knicks coming in second at $2,775,182.
