Risky Business

With the Trade Deadline having passed a couple of days ago, I was all prepped to write about all the blockbuster trades that I was sure were going to happen (Gasol to the Suns, a Rondo/Parsons swap, Kevin Love to the Lakers/Mavs) but alas, it was all extremely underwhelming. Other than Danny Granger finally moving on from the franchise he was the face of for a good few years, nothing notable really happened so before anyone questions why I didn’t touch on the subject, that’s why.

The Trade Deadline may have been a complete non-event and nothing of note has happened in the few games to be played since the All-Star break so this week I’m going to discuss something that has nothing to do with the game itself but is nonetheless causing a huge stir amongst the fans. Adam Silver has started his reign as commissioner in somewhat controversial fashion as he confirmed what we had all long suspected and long feared – not only are the sleeved jerseys here to stay, but on-jersey advertisements will soon be joining them. Is this a sign of the apocalypse in American sports as some seem to think, or just a savvy move for a league that at the end of the day is still a business? Well, I feel strongly one way (hint: it sure isn’t in favour of the ads/sleeves) but for the benefit of those of you who remain on the fence about it all I’ll do my best to put forth some kind of counterargument.

“The league is a business! We need money!”

The above is the basic argument put forward by the top dogs in the league office, and at first glance it may seem to be a case of the rich getting richer as it’s estimated that last season the league had revenue of $5 billion. That’s 20% more than just a couple of years earlier, so it would appear that the league has no problem with money. However, that’s revenue – not profit – and after all expenses have been taken out and the appropriate money has been doled out to all 30 teams, I imagine that the actual figure isn’t quite so glamorous and that stakeholders may be asking a few questions about why the league isn’t doing everything it can to maximise earnings like any other business would. Furthermore, running a team isn’t usually profitable for the owners so when Silver claimed that the ad spots may be worth $100 million to a team, you better believe that their ears perked up. A profitable team makes for a happy owner, which leads to benefits that range from the major (splashing out on a superstar) to the minor (upgrades to the arena or training facilities), all of which ultimately lead to a more successful team - you don’t often hear of cash-strapped small markets achieving much in US sports. With the double whammy of increased profitability for both the league and the owners having undeniable trickle down effects for both the teams and the fans, it definitely makes you think twice about whether having a small ad on the jerseys is really worse than having a mediocre (albeit ad-free) franchise.

Of course, sports aren’t all about the financials or even necessarily about winning championships. For many, it’s about feeling connected to the team and the feeling of community and brotherhood that can result from a shared fandom with otherwise complete strangers. This leads me to the other argument being put forward by people in favour of the ads, which is that leagues worldwide have their uniforms plastered with ads and fans not only accept them but also embrace some sponsors as being key parts of their team’s history. Perhaps the most obvious example is the English Premier League – who doesn’t know someone who drinks Carlsberg because they’re a Liverpool fan, or who chose Vodafone or Samsung because of their prominent sponsorship of Manchester United and Chelsea respectively? If anyone watched the Rising Stars game, you would have seen a sneak preview of the proposed ad sizing, which is basically a tiny square which it seems will either be below the number on the back, or on the front above the numbers as seen with Harrison Barnes in the photo above. So from an entirely non-financial standpoint, it does all seem slightly win-win – either fans will embrace whoever sponsors their team ala the Premier League, or the ads will be too small to really care about.

“Yeah but... America! Freedom! Liberty!”

Americans seem to enjoy a very love/hate relationship with ads. As anyone who’s ever watched more than about 30 seconds of the NBA or NFL will know, you can’t escape them – including special league-mandated timeouts to ensure maximum commercial time – but the seemingly logical progression of ads on jerseys has largely drawn the same reaction as I imagine punching a bald eagle in front of the White House would. The main reason for offence seems to be that none of the other major leagues (NFL, MBL, NHL) have ads and are all hugely successful so why does the NBA need them, especially when it seems to have exploded in popularity during the LeBron era? Yeah, the WNBA and Major League Soccer have on-jersey ads, but they are also wildly unpopular for the most part and haemorrhage money so it’s probably more of a desperation move from them than anything else. Perhaps fans are also worried that should this NBA experiment prove successful, it’s only a matter of time before the idea infiltrates the other sports and it won’t be long before you can’t buy a single item of American sports apparel without a McDonalds logo on the front and a Google logo on the back. Although most of us outside the US are perhaps more used to it with our sports teams, the idea of being a walking billboard doesn’t seem to sit pretty with Yank fans so expect many threats of boycotts and bypassing official jerseys in favour of ad-free Chinese knockoffs - because somehow that’s more patriotic than sporting a small logo.

Finally, to take the argument down to its most basic point people (including myself) are quite frankly sick of the outrageous amounts of advertising in every single aspect of the league. Things like the Sprite® Slam Dunk Contest presented by Kia ® are now common place (as if an event being sponsored by one company wasn’t enough...) and even seemingly charitable acts like donating $X per 3 point shot made have turned commercial as every time a team hits a shot we’re forced to hear the same snippet about how great that company is and how we should all buy from them. This helps explain why there is such outrage when it’s seemingly a pretty reasonable idea, because by itself defiling the jerseys may not be a problem, but when combined with the bombardment of advertising NBA fans already face it may be the straw the broke the camel’s back. Storied franchises like the Celtics and the Bulls who have had pretty much the same uniforms for 30, 40, even 50 years will all of a sudden have the history of their timeless jerseys cheapened by tacky advertising, and whilst casual fans probably aren’t too fussed about it I’m sure many diehards will consider it a truly dark day for the NBA.

Either way... It’s happening.

At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter what you, me or even Kobe or LeBron think. Ads on jerseys are coming whether we like it or not, the sleeves are most likely here to stay and any sense that the league had at least some standards when it came it whoring itself out has gone out the window. Yeah, I know this has all sounded a bit doom and gloom and I’m sure in time we’ll all get used to it but right now it truly does seem like the NBA will sell itself to anyone for the right price because it knows that casual fans don’t care enough to notice and hardcore fans care too much to stop watching. Hopefully this has brought a couple of points to your attention so what do you think about the whole palava? Is this the start of a new age of profitability and newfound attachment to your McDonalds Lakers brought to you by Toyota, or a sign that Adam Silver may in fact actually be Satan and Hitler rolled into one? Well, that’s up for debate at present - my guess is he’s probably not, but that bald head isn’t entirely trustworthy - but we’ll all find out soon enough.