Jersey Ads: Coming to a U.S. league soon?

When it comes to sports, there’s no shortage of discussion surrounding the name on the back of every jersey. Fans fall in love with the hotshot quarterback or rookie point guard that dazzles with no-look passes. However, there may soon be another name featured on jerseys for the public to talk about.

For the first time in the United States, an advertiser’s logo will appear on a uniform in one of the four major leagues. Participants in the 2016 NBA All-Star Game will wear jerseys featuring the Kia logo. The logo will be small and discretely placed in the upper left corner of the uniform. The two-year All-Star test is expected to be just the beginning, as league officials are pressing for uniform advertising to become commonplace in the coming years.

Kia’s deal to appear on the All-Star uniforms was completed during negotiations with Turner Broadcasting. Kia, an official sponsor of the NBA, often places advertisements during NBA games on TNT, which is owned by Turner. Turner gained the ability to sell ads on NBA jerseys as an adjunct to its NBA broadcasting rights contract through the 2025 to ‘26 season.

So what does this all mean? Well, jersey advertising is not a revolutionary concept. It is widespread across major sports in almost every other country, appearing on soccer and basketball uniforms in Europe, rugby shirts in Australia and baseball jerseys in Japan. Even in the U.S., corporate logos are seen plastered all over NASCAR cars and driver jumpsuits, as well as on golfers’ hats, shirts, pants and bags. But up until the NBA announced the Kia agreement, the four largest U.S. leagues, the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL, have avoided jersey advertising altogether.

At first glance, it seems illogical that advertisements are not already on every team’s jersey. After all, sports are a business, and selling advertising space on jerseys is another, potentially lucrative revenue stream. Marc Ganis, a sports marketing consultant, estimates that each league could generate hundreds of millions of dollars if small ads are sold on jerseys. But the reasons this has yet to occur are numerous. 

The biggest hurdle to overcome might be the backlash from fans that could occur with the introduction of this new advertising. After all, without fans, the sports genre would not be the massive moneymaker that it is today. Fans often have an obsessive relationship with their favorite teams. They respect the history of the franchises they follow, and may look at the introduction of jersey ads as an attack on their

storied reputation.

In addition, U.S. fans are already inundated with advertising while watching live sports. Football and baseball have frequent stoppages in play, as each game lasts an average of three hours, allowing for numerous commercial breaks. With soccer’s average match lasting less than two hours of continuous gameplay (i.e., no dedicated media timeouts or frequent stoppages in play), there just aren’t as many opportunities for standalone ads to be shown to consumers. This is the reason sideline and jersey ads work so well in European soccer leagues. But in the United States, fans of the four major sports may see jersey advertising as just another attempt by leagues and sponsors to cram more ads into an already cluttered space.

Though how far would fans actually go to voice their displeasure with jersey advertising? It seems unlikely they would stop buying tickets or tuning in because of a small addition to the uniforms of their favorite players. After all, many NASCAR and golf fans embrace corporate sponsorships, even wwlooking at them as an integral part of their favorite competitor’s identity. 

Another big issue is that there are a lot of mouths to feed in professional sports. Aside from each organization, every team owner would most likely want a piece of the prize money jersey advertising could reap. Not to mention the player unions in every league that would assuredly want those that are actually wearing the logos on their chests to get their fair share as well.

Beyond how the money would be divided is the question of how ads would be sold. Would each league strike a deal with one or two sponsors, or would each team reach out to sponsors individually? Problems may arise when advertisers aren’t as willing to spend money to put their logo on small market teams. Would there be a bidding war in the MLB for real estate on the New York Yankees uniform,

while the Miami Marlins are left to take whatever sponsor is left over?

The NBA’s deal with Kia serves as the perfect experiment that should shed a lot of light on these questions, as it’s an isolated game, focused more on the players than the teams they represent. If the reception is negative, jersey advertising can disappear after the 2017 edition of the All-Star game. However, if it is positive or even unnoticed, then there may be a new and lucrative edition to team uniforms in the coming years.