NBA owners are scheduled to vote later this week on having ads on jerseys by the start of the 2017-18 season. It was NBA Commissioner Adam Silver's idea to include ads on jersey five years ago and the league has been pushing for it ever since.
According to ESPN, it is expected that the rule will be approved as several NBA teams have already started looking for potential ads. Silver called the future ads on the jersey as "manifest destiny" and insisted that it will not affect the quality of play in the league.
"What we're talking about is a patch on the jersey. And one of the reasons we want to do it is that it creates an additional investment in those companies in the league. The amplification we get from those sponsors, those marketing partners of the league, who want to attach to our teams and our players," Silver said in an interview with Rachel Nichols in March.
The 53-year-old commissioner added that the league will benefit greatly from the ads because it will help promote the NBA. The ads were also part of the negotiations in the NBA's new $24 billion national television deal.
It is also part of the new Nike deal that will start in 2017 when the Oregon-based company replaces Adidas as the league's uniform supplier. The NBA will be allowing ads to be placed as a 2.5-by-2.5-inch patch on the left shoulder of the jersey.
In a report by CNN, the NBA will become the first of the four major leagues to allow ads on their official team jerseys. The first ads in an NBA jersey were from Kia and appeared in front of the jersey in the 2016 NBA All-Star Game. .
The NBA Developmental League and WNBA have already allowed ads on their jersey. On the other hand, some MLB teams have sponsor logos on their practice jersey.
Sponsor ads are more prominent in sports like European football, racing, golf and rugby union. "Just about all professional sports elsewhere in the world have uniform advertising," Paul Lukas of Uni-Watch blog said.
However, the only problem that will arise is how team owners and the NBPA will split the money earned from these ads.Watch the video below for the explanation of the benefits of having sponsor ads on sports jerseys.