In an article on how the marketing of uniform patches on NBA jersey is slow going, Brett Yormark says he has four “brands” interested in buying a small piece of the Nets jerseys.
Yormark, the CEO of Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, the Nets parent company, didn’t identify the brands nor give a timeline for when a deal could be done. According to Sports Business Journal, the Nets are seeking “high seven figures” from advertisers.
The patch, which the NBA describes as Post-It note sized, won’t be worn until the 2017-18 season. There has been only one deal since April. between StubHub and the 76ers. And SBJ notes, the market for the patches is much smaller than the league and teams had projected.
“I’m questioning what the value is,” said a senior sales executive at a large-market East Coast team. “We’re all out there selling it at once. One big brand told us they’d received [jersey patch] proposals from 18 NBA teams.”
As a result, the market may be 30 to 50 percent smaller than anticipated. One problem is that the patches will only be available on jerseys sold in team stores.
It’s required Yormark to offer a “presenting sponsorship of our arena store to reinforce that sale,” he told SBJ.
One consultant said that he doubts all 30 teams will have patch deals by next season.