The NBA’s been complaining about revenue struggles since before this summer’s lockout began, and even this year, when ratings are higher than ever and the league’s recovered from the lockout quicker than anyone expected, league execs are careful to note that the NBA is still losing money.
All of which is to say that the NBA selling ad space on jerseys is inevitable, and always has been. This report from Sports Business Journal just emphasizes what we already knew:
The NBA Is Definitely Going To Put Ads On Jerseys One Day: Embrace It!
The NBA is considering selling ad spaces on the front of their jerseys. It may not happen this year, and maybe not next year, but it WILL happen. So why’s that such a bad thing?
With the NBA positioning itself as the most global of leagues, will it soon join the rest of the world by selling advertising on uniforms? The sticky issue will be debated, if not voted on, at the next board of governors meeting in April.
[...] “The most appropriate question and the answer we’re all waiting for is, ‘What is it worth?’” said Golden State Warriors president and COO Rick Welts, who did the WNBA’s first uniform advertising deal between the Phoenix Mercury and LifeLock in 2009. “I am not suggesting this is an easy issue, but I feel like it is inevitable. We just have to agree on value and what it would look like.”
[...] “Without a doubt, there’s already interest,” said Mark Tatum, NBA executive vice president of global marketing partnerships, outside the league’s annual All-Star Technology Summit that was held at Orlando’s Waldorf-Astoria. “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.”
Maybe it won’t happen at this year’s Board of Governors, but as you can see, it’s already being considered, and there’s plenty of interest. And for the league that already touts the Haier Shooting Stars contest, the Sprite Slam Dunk Competition, the Taco Bell Skills Challenge, once gave away the Got Milk? Rookie of the Year award each year, and blatantly sold generations of Seattle basketball fans to get themselves a better deal in Oklahoma City, taking that next leap shouldn’t be that hard.
The common response to this news is explained well by Kelly Dwyer at Ball Don’t Lie:
You’re allowed to raise a hackle or 12 over this. Even something as slight as a small swoosh or golden arch placed at the mid-thigh of a player’s shorts is a start, and the “start” is what has to be stopped. You’re already paying enough to a league that is rolling in the dough, with record ratings and a growing global audience. You don’t need each player on your favorite team to be indirectly endorsing anything else while you watch the one part of an NBA court that doesn’t feature some sort of sponsor-driven annoyance.
It’s a fair point from a great writer, speaking for the majority of fans.
But on the other hand: Who really cares?
If suffocating corporate synergy bothers you, then the NBA has probably already driven you elsewhere. As noted a week ago at All-Star Weekend in Orlando, the NBA’s shameless marketing is already a spectacle in itself, like a joke that never ends. The NBA will sell out ANYTHING.
It’s only going to get worse and more ridiculous, and depending on your perspective, that’s only going to be more obnoxious and insulting, or more hilarious. I say we go with the latter.
If teams put ads on jerseys, what does that really mean? Basketball teams will be more like European club soccer teams? Jerseys will have a new look every year or two? Is that really a bad thing? It won’t make the jerseys you own obsolete. Even as the team’s traded him and changed their colors, my authentic Gilbert Arenas Wizards jersey is still 10 times cooler than anything in the team store now.
If anything, it’s a badge of honor at the Verizon Center. A reminder of better days. My Kevin Durant Sonics jersey is the coolest jersey I own, and as the years pass it’ll only get more awesome.
Ads won’t make a difference. They’ll just be another source of entertainment for fans. Sure, it’s also another revenue stream for a league that probably doesn’t really need it, but that’s fine too. As long as the NBA doesn’t turn into the NFL and start pandering to the American military complex every Sunday, we’re good. Plus, can you imagine how much fun we’d have with whatever shitty company gets stuck sponsoring the Bobcats? Or the year when Jim Buss inevitably sells his Lakers ad space to Bud Light Platinum?
If that image looks blasphemous, don’t worry. You’ll get over it.
One day, ads on jerseys will just make the NBA landscape a little bit more ridiculous, funnier and more colorful. And if you hate that idea, maybe you never really loved the NBA in the first place.
(photos via Getty, #MakeItPlatinum via the internet’s Matt Ufford)
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