If you haven’t heard by now, it is only a matter of time before before teams around the league will begin to sport business ads on their jerseys, much like that of their WNBA counterparts.
Despite reports about the Los Angeles Lakers’ hesitation to embrace this new idea, team president of business operations Jeannie Buss said she, or the Lakers are not opposed to ads or sponsorship patches of any kind. That report has been clarified now that the team has seemingly moved one step closer to making it a reality according to Steve Kyler of BasketballInsiders.com.
Oh, Laker fans gonna love this – Lakers have hired Hookit a sponsorship valuation company to help them define value and price for jersey ads
— Steve Kyler (@stevekylerNBA) August 16, 2016
Prior to the last season’s all-star game in Toronto in February, the owners held a meeting to discuss the possibility of when these sponsorships could begin to take place. It was then that there were reports of hesitation from Buss due to concerns that it would complicate the league’s revenue-sharing system.
Since 2001, Hookit has connected athletes with sponsors through the use of cutting-edge data and ranking tools, and has worked with some of the most notable names and organizations in sports.
While it is hard to imagine anything other than the Lakers iconic emblem across the chest of the jersey, NBA commissioner Adam Silver has referred to the placement of sponsors on team uniforms as an “inevitable conclusion”.
The Lakers taking part in something like this does nothing to lessen their brand and potentially will bring in more money. It may seem weird at first, but in time, different ads on jerseys will become the norm. Much like soccer teams across the world, the NBA will likely soon have ads on their jerseys and the Lakers will be no exception.