IFWT_Sixers StubHub 1

There’s been murmurs about ads coming to NBA jerseys soon and now it’s finally happening.  The Philadelphia 76ers will become the first team in the NBA and all the four major U.S. sports to sell an ad on a jersey.

The 76ers announced Monday morning that they partnered with the ticket company StubHub to put their logo patch on the team’s jerseys beginning in the 2017-18 season, when the NBA’s three-year pilot program will start.

According to ESPN, sources with knowledge of the deal say the team has sold all three seasons a $5 million a year, with the option to extend the contract with StubHub should the league continue to allow the 2½-by-2½-inch logo patch to be on the jerseys in the future after the test run.

Teams are allowed to sell to any company so long as it doesn’t do business in gambling, alcohol or politics. National partners of the NBA that are protected, and can’t have a competitor show up on a team jersey, are the media partners (ESPN, ABC, Turner), the apparel partner (Nike starting in 2017-18) and on-court partners Tissot (the official timekeeper) and Spalding (the official ball). No other league partners, including Ticketmaster, a StubHub competitor, are protected.

NBA teams will keep half of the money generated from selling sponsorships on jerseys with the individual team that does the deal keeping half and the rest going to a revenue-sharing pool. The other half will be split with the players and will contribute to a rising salary cap.

Jerseys that will be available at retail nationally will not have the corporate sponsor logo on them, but O’Neil said the Sixers will have jerseys at their team locations with a StubHub logo.

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