Yahoo Finance Why Stubhub advertising on 76ers jerseys makes perfect sense
Both parties can benefit from being first.
It only took one month—and maybe, behind the scenes, even less than that.
On April 15, the NBA announced it would allow teams to start selling jersey sponsorships as part of a three-year “pilot program.” On May 15, it announced the first team and sponsor to jump aboard: the Philadelphia 76ers and StubHub.
Of course it would be them. The match makes perfect, obvious sense. The 76ers were the very worst team in the NBA this season, and won fewer than 20 games in the past three seasons in a row; the team has seen bad press and only bad press for three years. By being first out the gate in this sponsorship experiment, the 76ers at least look innovative on the business front. And if the reported $5 million per year that the team will get from StubHub could possibly help on the court, fans will be pleased.
As for Stubhub, $5 million per year is a relatively cheap price to pay for the publicity. (People are talking about the 76ers and StubHub this week; you are reading about them.) For comparison, Chevrolet reportedly pays 47 million pounds per year (more than $67 million in U.S. dollars) to have its name on Manchester United’s kits. Granted, the European soccer jersey real estate is bigger and splashier than the small (if not subtle) 2.5-inch-by-2.5-inch patch that StubHub will have on 76er jerseys next season. But StubHub’s deal is for the next three seasons, which guarantees it’ll stay in the conversation for the duration of the “experiment.” And no one can take away from StubHub its title as first sponsor to sign. By being first, StubHub has also somewhat set the market rate for this new sponsorship.
There’s another reason jumping on the test run made sense for StubHub. The eBay-owned (EBAY) secondary-market ticketing site's entire brand identity is about being an innovative solution in the sports industry—thus moving first on a new, somewhat daunting new sponsorship format fits it well.
StubHub will get a small patch on the front of 76er jerseys beginning in the 2017-2018 season.
Now all that’s left is for StubHub to activate its sponsorship the right way. “As soon as you go on a jersey, you’re buying into the past of the team, you’re in the present of the team, and you’re going to be in their future,” says Dominic Curran, CEO of sports sponsorship firm Synergy. “You’ve got to treat it with respect. And you’ve got to bring something extra to the fans in your activation, whether it’s offers or access… You don’t just put a logo on and say, ‘Sweet, hope that works.’ That’s just wallpaper.”
Indeed, being on a jersey is a completely new world for a corporate sponsor. It’s unlike being on a sign in the stadium, or on a post around the edge of a court or field. A jersey sponsor is literally in the game; it’s on the players. And that means it has a heightened connection to the team and its fans—or at least, it should, in theory.
And that’s how the NBA is framing it, too. "Jersey sponsorships provide deeper engagement with partners looking to build a unique association with our teams,” NBA commish Adam Silver said at the time of the announcement of the experiment. And teams that do sell a sponsorship patch will have the option to sell the jerseys, with sponsor patch, at their own retail stores. (The rest of the retail locations where fans can buy an official jersey will not have the patches.) The only restriction on the sponsors teams can bring aboard: No alcohol, tobacco, gambling, politics, or media companies, and no Nike competitor.
Of course, there’s one big caveat to all this: Many fans may not want a jersey with the sponsor patch, and many may hate the idea of this new sponsorship, which is one step closer to the commercialization of the big three sports leagues. (In recent years, the NFL has experimented with selling red-zone sponsorships during the preseason; expect the practice not to go away.)
Like it or not, the increasing presence of brands and advertisers on the court and field is inevitable and unavoidable. And if you ask Curran, most sports fans are already immune to it anyway. “Fans want their team to be in the big games, and if a commercial partner can help you get there, people understand that nowadays,” he says. “They don’t object to that. They’ve grown up with brands and marketing all around them. So they don’t find it such an intrusion.”
A New York Post story from when the NBA first announced this program began by asking, facetiously, “What’s next, an NBA team called the Dunkin’ Donuts? How about the Chicago Red Bulls or Sacramento Burger Kings?” But that premise is no joke. It’s easy to imagine. In MLS, there are already teams named for a corporate sponsor. (Ever heard of the New York Red Bulls?) The NBA is only calling this a three-year “pilot program” for now. Expect it to become the new normal. And that’s why StubHub was smart to jump aboard.
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Daniel Roberts is a writer at Yahoo Finance, covering sports business and technology. Follow him on Twitter at @readDanwrite.
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