Although they have not even officially voted on anything yet, the NBA’s owners are expected to approve adding advertisements to NBA jerseys this week. The ads would be place on NBA jerseys starting in the 2017-18 season and it should do nothing more than add revenue for the league, more than they are already expected to receive in the coming years. Recently, NBA commissioner Adam Silver recently spoke about ads being placed on jerseys and he said it was inevitable and now it appears that it will be come a reality.
Following from Brian Windhorst and Darren Rovell of ESPN.
NBA owners are scheduled to vote this week on putting ads on jerseys for the 2017-18 season, multiple sources told ESPN.
The measure is expected to pass, according to sources. Several teams have begun testing the market to sell the potentially lucrative ads, which would be placed in a 2.5-by-2.5-inch patch on the left shoulder.
A proposal was presented to the owners in February during a meeting at the All-Star Game in Toronto with the expectation that a decision would be reached at this week’s Board of Governors meeting, held in New York on Thursday and Friday.
The initial proposal to owners was for teams to keep 50 percent of the sponsorship money from the jersey ads and for 50 percent to be added to the revenue-sharing pool for all teams.
UPDATE:
The NBA has announced that starting in the 2017-18 season, teams will be able to sell advertisements on their jerseys as part of a three year trial.
The NBA Board of Governors approved the sale of jersey sponsorships, beginning with the 2017-18 season, as part of a three-year pilot program. The sponsorship patch will appear on the front left of the game jerseys opposite the Nike logo. Patches will measure approximately 2.5 inches by 2.5 inches and be adjusted to fit the dimensions of each sponsor’s logo.
The NBA’s 30 teams will be responsible for selling their own jersey sponsorships.
“Jersey sponsorships provide deeper engagement with partners looking to build a unique association with our teams and the additional investment will help grow the game in exciting new ways,” said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. “We’re always thinking about innovative ways the NBA can remain competitive in a global marketplace, and we are excited to see the results of this three-year trial.”
The sponsor patch will not appear on the retail versions of the player jerseys but teams will have the option to sell the jerseys with sponsor patches in their own retail outlets.
