Professional sports teams overseas have been sporting sponsor’s names prominently on the front of team jerseys for years. Just last week, AON Corp. announced that it would replace AIG and feature the AON brand prominently on the front of Manchester United’s soccer jersey starting with the 2010-11 season. Reports are that the four-year agreement cost about $132 million.
Up to now the jerseys of professional and college teams in the US have been largely without sponsor’s logos except maybe for the small logos from the brands Nike, Adidas, etc. The opportunity to sell advertising on these jerseys can be huge and both the NBA and NFL just announced programs to test these waters.
The NY Times recently reported that the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury locked up a deal to have LifeLock’s 10-inch-by-4-inch name of the identity-theft protection company stretching across the team’s jerseys. A small Mercury logo appears like a badge on the upper left of the jersey. “The rest of the world considers this business as usual and assumes this is the way professional sports teams market,” Rick Welts president of the N.B.A.’s Phoenix Suns, which owns the Mercury said.
A few NFL franchises are now exploring sponsorship deals that would put marketers’ names and logos on team practice jerseys, according to AdAge. The NFL passed a rule in March that allows teams to pursue local sponsorship opportunities that can give companies the chance to put 3 1/2-by-4 1/2-inch patches on the shoulders of practice jerseys in order to bring in a new revenue stream.
There is no doubt custom team jerseys with sponsor names can offer advertisers valuable real estate, especially for teams that are regularly featured on television and other media outlets. However the major sports leagues in the US have built up very lucrative licensed sports jersey businesses. Will sponsor’s names on jerseys affect this business? Perhaps not. Even with the AIG name on its jerseys, Manchester United still manages to sell about 6.6 million jerseys a year.
In these tough economic times, sponsorship on jerseys shouldn’t be the sole domain of high profile professional and college sports teams. As a sign of the times, look for sponsors names to prominently appear on the team uniforms of lower profile schools and recreation teams. It is a great way to offset team uniform and program expenses. It is worth pitching the idea to sponsors. With many different team decoration options, our TeamSportswear site can personalize custom jerseys with sponsor names and logos however you want.