What do the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury, the NFL's Hoston Texans, and Green Bay Packers all have in common? (I know, tough question)
I'm sorry if I started your day with a brain twister, but it really isn't so hard. Just think for a second.
If you said all three teams are selling advertising on their uniforms, you're 100% right.
The Mercury are doing it for obvious reasons. They need the cash. They're in the WNBA for goodness sakes! That league needs to do everything it can to survive. I'm just surprise that the Mercury, or some other team (and no, I can't tell you all of the teams left in the league after the dynastic Houston Comets folded) took so many years to take that bold step.
The Texans and Packers have both come out and said they are looking into the idea of adding advertising patches to their practice jerseys.
Fans have had very different reactions to this. Some don't care. Some do. The ones that do look at the team's uniforms as 'pure' and don't want that 'purness' desecrated.
I have one question for the people who feel this way. Are you kidding me?
Putting advertising patches on team's uniforms is just the next natural step in the evolution of pro sports in this country. It might be new here (actually it isn't because of NASCAR, but no one ever mentions that), but it sure as hell isn't new in other countries. Have you seen a European basketball game? Ads all over the uniforms. The same for soccer matches around the world (and here too, by the way). Heck, the CFL uniforms have advertising, too. So do Srena Football League unis. This isn't a new concept. It just hasn't happened in this country's major team sports just yet.
Considering how bad our economy is right now, it's only natural that teams in this country would consider the 'patch possibility' as a way to make money in tough times. Some advertisers are leaving teams because of the economy. Radio and television rights have been impacted (so has radio and television advertising). But, at the same time, fans demand that teams add payroll in an attempt to win now. So, the team has a couple of choices (should they add payroll). Make the fans pay for it by raising ticket prices or find new, creative ways of advertising to bring more money in. I don't know about you, but I'd rather see advertising on jerseys than pay any more money for tickets.
It's why we've seen teams strike partnership deals with local businesses. Here in Milwaukee, the Brewers are presented by Potawatomi (a casino). The Brewers then went out and signed free agent reliever Trevor Hoffman, starter Braden Looper, gave a nice contract to Prince Fielder, and made a $100M offer in an attempt to keep CC Sabathia from signing with the Yankees. Had the Brewers not had the deal with the casino in place, I doubt some of those moves - if not all of them - would have been made. Why? Because owner Mark Attanasio knows that he can only raise prices so much before fans decide their money is best spent elsewhere.
Ninety miles to the south, the Chicago White Sox once sold the start times to games to 7-11. Take a wild guess when games at U.S. Cellular Field start? If you said 7:11PM, you win!
The moral of the story - teams will do just about anything these days to make a buck.
The people who think that advertising on a team's uniforms is tantamount to a capitol crime ought to realize a couple of things. First of all, it already exists here in this country. I mentioned NASCAR. Watch an MLS game on television if you can find it. Check out the advertising you see there.
And, when you're watching the U.S, Open next week, or maybe even the finals of the French Open this weekend, you'll see advertising all over the place. Not just on the court or course, but on the players themselves. Roger Federer is a walking billboard for Nike. So is Tiger Woods. Golfers and tennis players wear the clothing they are CONTRACTUALLY bound to wear. Do you think golfers wear PING, Taylor Made, or Cleveland Golf hats because they want to? Or is it possible that they're wearing them (and others) because they use their equipment?
One last thing. Go to your closet. Take a look at some of the clothes you own. Specifically, the jerseys, sweatshirts, t-shirts and anything else you wear that bears your favorite team's logo. Tell me what you see. Oh, that's right! Advertising logos. I, personally, have a Brett Favre jersey (Jets) with the Reebok logo on the sleeve. I've got a University of Wisconsin sweatshirt that has an Adidas logo on it. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point.
Adverstising on player jerseys is nothing new. It's already there, and it's been there for a number of years (decades, actually). They just did it without us really noticing or caring.
So, now they want to slap patches on the uniforms. And some people are getting way too worked up over it.
Especially since, as I mentioned just a minute ago, it's already there!
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