Adult Entertainment Company Wants To Sponsor Texans Practice Jerseys

Now that NFL teams are trying to defray the evaporation of advertising revenues from the likes of the car companies, the financial services industry, and Budweiser, they’ll necessarily be opening the door to overtures from businesses with which the NFL wisely won’t want to do business, under any circumstances. And one such company already is knocking. (With a fist. We think.) Zero Tolerance Entertainment, which makes and markets adult videos, claims that it has approached the Houston Texans regarding the availability of marketing space. Last week, the Texans acknowledged that they are seeking to take advantage of the new rule that allows NFL teams to allow corporate logos and/or messages to infiltrate the official team practice jerseys. In a press release circulated by Scott Stein, the company’s director of marketing, Zero Tolerance claimed that an offer involving “several zeros” was made to the Texans. “Every team in the league starts the season by saying, that they’ll have Zero Tolerance for losing,” the press release states. “While our offer may not be taken seriously, there is some undeniable synergy between the NFL and the name of our company.” It’s not that the offer won’t be taken seriously. After all, the NFL and its 32 franchises are trying desperately in a down economy to raise money through a new universe of revenue streams. The problem is that the Texans at best will use the offer to leverage someone else into offering more money, since the consequences of doing business with an adult entertainment company would offset any profits arising from such a deal. Still, teams like the Texans should brace themselves for an onslaught of offers from business interests anxious to take advantage of the availability of advertising space that the traditional advertisers don’t have the money to buy.