There is a similarity between sports fans and place cards or advertisements. Both follow the game but have different perspectives. While the fans want to enjoy a good game, the commercials market their brand. In recent times, the basketball uniforms of NBA players have featured sponsorships. One can see their presence in large numbers, particularly around the court.
Los Angeles Lakers announced they had a 5-year deal of $100 million contract with Bibigo. The South Korean food brand wanted to include its emblem as a patch on basketball uniforms. Also, the Philadelphia 76ers signed a six-year agreement with Crypto.com. A bitcoin trading site is featuring them on their baseball uniforms.
For decades, the sales of basketball uniforms have increased. It has become a significant source of money for sports teams. They have turned into walking billboards. It is a premium real estate for firms wishing to boost their brand. NBA fans treat basketball uniforms as holy since their sentiments are attached. But the NBA has focused entirely on advertisements based on its expertise.
As a basketball fan, you may have heard the names of The Staples Center or Power Balance Pavilion. Then there are the millions of ads that line the concourse. Advertisements are cashing in on the timeouts, and now it is time for the KFC Wiener Dog races! Promotions have dedicated a lot of money to the time slots.
Several sports leagues and firms have generated wholesome income for their teams by adding ads on basketball uniforms. Hence, this tactic for generating revenue allows the sponsors to boost the visibility of their company’s basketball uniforms sales.
Female Trailblazers: The beginning of the patch era
The NBA has authorized a patch-sponsorship scheme for the 2017-18 season. Thus, it enabled the clubs to feature one client on the front left shoulder of basketball uniforms. The initiative began as a three-year experimental project. But it is now fully extended for an indefinite period.
The Women’s National Basketball Association and European soccer teams had previously accepted the sponsorship for a corporate basketball uniform. In 2009, WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury changed their name to that of a sponsor. LifeLock, an identity-theft protection firm, is in a contract worth at least $1 million annually.
According to Nancy Lough, an education professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, with experience in sports marketing, the other significant leagues let the WNBA serve as a test case. She said, In the case of the NBA, NHL, and others, they have been cautious over the years, fearing that it would degrade their identity or be perceived as selling out.” But, as claimed her, there is a tremendous shift in her attitude, partly due to the amount of money these leagues would lose by passing up the chance. In 2019, the NBA launched a patch program that made them more than $150 million. According to a now-retired WNBA player, Penny Taylor, “The NBA is simply mimicking us… fantastic for them”. This was the statement she remarked in 2016.
Criteria of Choosing the Firms
Many firms with patch relationships with NBA clubs are newer participants. But they do have some providing financial-technology services.
“Jersey patches reach a broad, attentive consumer base for businesses launching into new sectors.” “You’ll note that most patches aren’t standard sponsors,” Kirk Wakefield, a Baylor University professor of retail marketing, stated in an email.
According to data supplier Sponsor United, more NBA sponsorships come from Crypto and Fintech businesses than traditional marketers such as banks. They cut down on marketing expenditure.
Ibotta, a cash-back rebate software, Squarespace, Crypto.com, and Vistaprint, an e-commerce firm that offers customized marketing items for small companies, are all current patch sponsors.
Wakefield said that the NBA clubs’ senior partnership sales team is interested in seeking sponsors. On many occasions, teams interact with brands; sometimes, it is the other way around.
According to Ricky Engelberg, the company’s chief marketing officer, the Boston Celtics had approached Vistaprint. But conversations halted due to the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the two did collaborate on the Celtics’ Food for Heroes program, which aims to help local businesses and front-line employees.
Engelberg further said that while working with them, we realized how we could impact a community. After the previous sponsor, General Electric declined to extend its contract, Vistaprint agreed to a four-year partnership with the Celtics for the 2020-21 season.
Broader Collaborations
Lough described placing corporate advertisements directly on team clothes as the best possible exposure.
“If you go on ESPN.com, the Vistaprint logo is on the homepage because Jayson Tatum scored 50 points in the game,” Engelberg said, “contrasting this kind of promotion with the standard 60-second advertisement. You’re playing NBA2K, and the Vistaprint logo appears at the free-throw line.”
Furthermore, these partnerships aren’t only for the patch. The Celtics, according to Engelberg, share the company’s ideals and enthusiasm for assisting small companies.
At home games, Vistaprint dedicates courtside signage to small companies, and the partners have launched a $1 million award program for Black-owned businesses in New England. After COVID-19 struck, the NBA depended even more on jersey patch sales to offset the financial burden of the epidemic. Other sports, such as Major League Baseball, are investigating similar sponsorship arrangements, while the NHL has permitted jersey advertisements for the 2022-23 season. It seems that any fears of “selling out” have been overcome.
