League Preparing To Cross The Sponsorship Rubicon?

On the surface, it doesn’t sound like much. A small patch, on a jersey that wouldn’t even be worn during a preseason game. But the one small step that the league owners might be taking could end up being the push point for a giant leap into an expanded corporate presence in pro football. According to Jim Corbett of USA Today, the NFL is considering the possibility of adding corporate logos to practice jerseys. “It would be similar to logos worn on pro soccer jerseys,” said Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones, who serves on the league’s business ventures committee. “The prototype they showed us was no different than the patches they would put on the Pro Bowl jerseys,” Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti said. “The uniforms in NFL Europe, they had a big logo. That’s not what we’re talking about. “We’re talking about something unobtrusive that when the guys are being interviewed, people can can see the sponsor logo on their jerseys. But it’s no bigger or more obtrusive than the patches worn for the Super Bowl logo.” In our view, it’s a trial balloon -- the first step in what could be an eventual expansion of corporate presence on official NFL game uniforms. Of course, it’s already occurring. Reebok logos appear on every jersey, since Reebok manufactures them. But if the league wanted to use jerseys that had no direct or indirect marketing characteristics (other than the not-so-attractive “NFL Equipment” patch at the neck), the league easily could do it. The difference here, of course, is that the league would be moving dramatically beyond the advertising that has become so integral to our sportswear that no one seems to mind the fact that we all fork over good money for the privilege of being walking, talking billboards for Nike, Reebok, and UnderArmour (often in some combination of the three). A bad economy coupled with the ongoing permeation of corporate sponsorships in the world of sports makes the move a no-brainer, in our view. And, frankly, we’re not troubled by it. Or maybe we’re just numb to it. And that could be the reality here. Thirty years ago, the notion of any corporate intrusion into major pro sports would have prompted an uproar, even as stock cars zoomed around the track covered by more sponsor decals than paint. Today, the gradual blending of sports and advertising, from “official beer sponsorships” to the Rose Bowl presented by Vandelay Industries, and the rise of NASCAR have made the move that the NFL currently is considering seem not shocking but inevitable. And who knows? Maybe someday there will be a PFT logo on a Lions jersey. We can only dream.