76ers sell the first NBA ad on players’ jerseys to StubHub

StubHub is the first brand to advertise on NBA jerseys.

The Philadelphia 76ers announced today it will be the first team to take advantage of the NBA’s new rules that allow teams to sell advertisements on player jerseys. A 2.5-by-2.5 inch StubHub logo will appear on players’ left shoulders beginning in the 2017 – 2018 season.

The deal between the 76ers and StubHub is reported to last for three years at $5 million each season, with an option to extend if the pilot program proves successful, ESPN reports. The NBA announced the program last month.

Here’s what the jerseys will look like:

“Our partnership with StubHub continues to generate progressive and forward-thinking platforms created to improve the fan experience and advance our industry,” said Philadelphia 76ers CEO Scott O’Neil in a prepared statement. “The essence of our relationship with StubHub is our shared culture and ambition to innovate, which drives us to reimagine traditional partnership activation and continually ask, ‘what if’?”

Sure, but the partnership’s irony wasn’t lost on fans: The 76ers are currently dead last in the Eastern Conference with only 10 wins. As such, the team unlikely to need a ticket reseller website’s help in filling seats at games no one wants to watch. Twitter reacted accordingly:

 

https://digiday.com/?p=178362

More in Marketing

Amazon positions NBA rights and live sports portfolio as a lure for its broader ads business

Danielle Carney, head of live sports and video sales at Amazon, shares how the platform is wooing brands on its CTV pitch.

In Graphic Detail: How YouTube redrew the TV map

As YouTube has risen over the past 20 years to the streaming giant it is today, the platform has changed the way people watch TV.

Marketing Briefing: Here’s what marketers put on the back burner for the foreseeable future

Marketers are still in wait-and-see mode, pressing pause on any advertising spending that doesn’t shore up their business for the time being.